Metea Valley Theater to put on Oscar Wilde’s witty comedy ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’

Metea Valley High School Theater will present Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” a Victorian comedy about two men who create false identities to escape social obligations.

Subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” Wilde’s celebrated 1895 satire follows two Victorian gentlemen, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who engineer elaborate double lives to escape their rigid social obligations. Jack adopts the persona of “Ernest” while in London, while Algernon invents an ailing friend named “Bunbury” as a convenient excuse to escape to the countryside.

Complications arise when both men fall in love with women — Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew — who are independently obsessed with marrying a man named Ernest, believing the name guarantees moral perfection. When all four end up at Jack’s country estate, their web of deception unravels into an afternoon of sharp wit, mistaken identities, and romantic chaos.

Performances will be at 7 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, Nov. 12-14, in the high school auditorium, 1801 N. Eola Road, Aurora.

Tickets are $10 or $5 for students and seniors.

Tickets are available online at meteavalleytheater.org.