PREVIEW: 'Importance of Being Earnest' at Gladstone Theatre

In the play, on at the Gladstone Theatre in Port Sunlight until Saturday, two very different bachelors both employ the use of made-up alibis in order to escape their everyday lives - but in what is described as 'a whirl of deception and mistaken identity', find themselves scrambling to hold their lies together in the face of love.

Serious and responsible Jack goes by the name of Earnest in order to have some irresponsible fun in the city, blaming the consequences on an infamously badly behaved non-existent brother.

Meanwhile his best friend - charming, spirited yet amoral Algernon - has invented a seriously ill pal called Bunbury, whom he can claim has suddenly taken a terrible turn for the worse whenever he needs to escape social boredom.

Cast of Bebington Dramatic Society's production of Oscar Wilde's classic comedy 'The Importance of Being Earnest' which opens tonight (Tuesday, June 4) (Image: Mike Jones / Bebington Dramatic Society)

After proposing to the love of his life, stylish and straightforward Gwendolyn, Jack desperately tries to make himself worthy in the eyes of her snobbish, domineering mother.

Arriving back to his home in the country intending to get baptised, he is horrified to find Algernon shamelessly in the midst of a Bunbury-ish encounter with Jack's ward, young and impatient daydreamer Cecily.

As both men try to balance their lies and quarrels with their new relationships, the pair find themselves caught up in a farcical tangle of confusion, stolen identity, and often surprisingly sweet romance.

A hilarious, witty, trivial play that examines the hypocrisy of upper class values and the shallowness of those trying to uphold their places in society.

Tickets for the production are from https://gladstonetheatre.org.uk/whats-on/