The Importance of Being Earnest

Shugufa Fatih, Mark Agholor, Jorge Benitez

Set Design

Set Design

• The stage of this play is a proscenium stage,

because it makes it easy to change scenes to

depict realistic stages. For example: o The story unfolded in Algernon’s living room and then it was shifted to

Jack Worthing’s country house garden.

Style of Houses in 1890s

Tone and Style• Algernon’s Living room

• Time period-1890’s in

England.

• Bright colors depict

tone and time of the

day.o Happy tone

o Day time

o Comedy

Realism vs. Nonrealism• The scenery of this

play is realistico It resembles a recognizable

1890’s English living room

with a couch and a table

with cucumber sandwiches

and tea on it.

Algernon and Jack waiting

for Aunt Augusta and cousin

Gwendolen to arrive.

• Lane (servant)- brings Jack’s

cigarete box that Jack

forgot last time he visited

Algernon.

Realism vs. NonrealismIn Jack’s garden

• Trees, flowers, a table with books, tea cups, cake, butter and bread

make the play realistic.

Central Metaphor• The central metaphor of

this play is double life. “Bunbury or Bunburying”o The practice of deceiving

someone by misbehaving, while representing themselves as being a responsible and trustworthy person.

• Algernon escapes to country to visit invalid friend “Bunbury” to get a chance to meet Cecily as being Earnest, Jack’s brother.

• Jack pretends to be Earnest in town to get married with Gwendolen and Jack in the country.

• They both pretend to be Earnest to get what they want.

Light Design

Visibility• The audience must be able to see the actors’ faces

and actions on stage

• The lighting designer will allow for the actors and

other lighting factors to be seen in order to carry out

the theme of the play

• Revealing shapes and forms will aid in showing the

setting, time, and place of the play

Visual Composition• Lighting focusses on certain parts of the stage that

will help the audience to follow what is going on the

stage

• It will illuminate areas of focus and hide areas of

hidden objects that may be seen later

Mood and Style• The lighting will help elaborate the established

mood during any time in the play

• Bright lights can symbolize the outdoors along with

a feeling of joy and happiness

• Lack of lighting can help highlight dark emotions,

such as sadness along with the night time

• Lighting can help differentiate realistic vs

nonrealistic plays

• Lighting can also highlight pieces of furniture that

help establish the current place of the scene

A stage set up in this manner would be ideal for act one. The lighting would be spotted on the actors in order for the audience to focus on them, as well as illuminate the entire room to show the setting

Rhythm of Visual Movement

• Changes in light establish a rhythm of movement

throughout the play

• Slow fades allow for more thoughtful changes

• Sudden or staccato changes may unsettle an

audience

• However both effects can help reflect changes in

mood during the play

• Its important for the lighting changes to be in sync

with the actors movements and directors vision in

order to provide a great production

Central Visual Image• Lighting can strongly influence the way a play is

perceived

• The wrong lighting can distort or destroy the effect

of a play

• It can greatly assist the production as a whole with

the correct lighting

• Lighting provides the greatest aid to the audiences’

visual imagination

Costume Designer

Costumes

Costumes• For the “Importance of Being Earnest,” the setting is

1895 in London, so an Old English style should be

arraigned for the clothing.

• The characters are mostly upper class, so I stick to

having them strictly in formal wear, reflecting their

status.

• For the men, suits with the pants possibly as

breeches, and an optional top hat and cane and

for the women, long dresses showing minimal skin.

• The two servants should be dressed as butlers in

either black and white, or lower class formal attire.

Major characters

Major characters• Algernon – wealthy man in his mid 20s; claims to be

named Earnest

• John Worthing – 29 yr old man, who is vying for the

affection of Gwendolen; claims to be named Ernest

• Gwendolen – daughter of Lady Bracknell, proposed

to by Jack

• Cecily – young girl who is ward to John “Jack”

Worthing and later engaged to Algernon

• Lady Bracknell – mother of Gwendolen

Minor Characters

Minor Characters• Lane/Merriman – Butlers

• Chasuble – Reverend, who at one point was called

upon for christening (should wear robes that would

make him distinguishable as a church figure)

• Miss Prism – Governess

• The minor characters, help support the main

storyline involving the proposals and lies of the two

couples

Personalities• Most of the characters had a very vivacious and

positive affect about them, with the exception of

Lady Bracknell. Algernon, Jack, Cecily, and

Gwendolen are all fairly young and ready to love and

be loved.

• Algernon and Jack were both underhanded for most

of the play and very much into being “Bunburyist”,

lying to the girls of their dreams to propose.

• Lady Bracknell was a very tough case, both

demanding and traditional, as shown when was

critical of Jack’s standing upon proposing to

Gwendolen

• The play was mostly about being “Ernest” literally

and figuratively and the problems and solutions that

came about trying to be it.

Director

Choosing a Script

Choosing a ScriptThe director choses the script that he or she is attracted to and

understands and appreciates the material

This script was chosen because it truly is something I believe:

sincerity is important

The director then will look ahead and find any areas in the script

that may cause problems during the production and tries to find

solutions before hand

One early issue I noticed was the difference in setting between

the three acts

The issue is resolved by having a central flooring that can work

for the three acts and then moving objects in and out between

acts that will help differentiate the settings, such as a couch or

coffee table

Casting

CastingThe director has to cast the play and select which actors will play what

characters

He or she would have to be able to match performers and characters

based on their personalities and physical characteristics

I would cast the following actors for their corresponding characters

Lane- Michael Cane

Algernon- Steve Carell

Jack-Vince VaughnLady Bracknell- Joan Plowright

Gwendolen- Sandra Bullock

Miss Prism- Jane Lynch

Cecily- Scarlett Johanson

Chasuble- Mel Gibson

Merriman- Bill Murray

Spine

Spine and ThemeAlso known as the MAIN ACTION, its what motivates the play

The spine allows the director to understand the action and

proved a nerve center from which to develop it

The spine can differ from director to director

It also helps the theme of the play resonate continuously

Some themes that might correspond to this play are:

• Searching for love and happiness

• Hypocrisy

• Self identification

• Double standards between classes

• The importance of being earnest

• The nature of marriage

Style

StyleStyle in a play should help illuminate the spine

The style is the way the play will be presented

And because multiple themes are related to real life, realism

would best suit this play

The actions taken by the characters are all within the confines

of the room or certain location they are in, therefore showing as

close to the most natural form of the action would allow for the

theme to be evident

The style will be visible not only through the setting, but the

characters, costumes, lighting, sounds and other physical

aspects of the play will correspond with it as well

This realism style will allow for the characters to showcase their

emotions through actions that seem natural to people

Directorial Concept

Directorial ConceptThe director embody the spine and implement the style through

developing a directorial concept which derives from vision that unifies

the experience for the spectators

The period this play was first performed in 1895, and the setting for that

time period would work best for this play because of the dialogue it has

If I were to try to present it in this modern period, the dialogue would

have to change and newer technology would be incorporated, such as

cell phones, in order to feel realistic

A central image for this play could be a reoccurring metaphor, such as

a sculpture of a two faced figure (representing hypocrisy) always

standing in the background or rings (representing marriage) hanging on

walls as decorations

And this play would be best presented in the way it was written, without

trying to adapt the characters to modern times