group 26 the importance of being earnest

1. The Importance
of Being Earnest
Shugufa Fatih, Mark Agholor, Jorge Benitez

2. Set Design

4. 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.

5. Style of Houses in 1890s

6. 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

7. Realism vs. Nonrealism
• The scenery of this
play is realistic
o 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.

8. Realism vs. Nonrealism
In Jack’s garden
• Trees, flowers, a table with books, tea cups, cake, butter and bread
make the play realistic.

9. 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.

10. Light Design

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. Costume
Designer

18. Costumes

19. 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.

20. Major characters

21. 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

22. Minor Characters

23. 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

24. 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

25. • The play was mostly about being “Ernest” literally
and figuratively and the problems and solutions that
came about trying to be it.

26. Director

27. Choosing a Script

28. Choosing a Script
The 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

29. Casting

30. Casting
The 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 Vaughn
Lady Bracknell- Joan Plowright
Gwendolen- Sandra Bullock
Miss Prism- Jane Lynch
Cecily- Scarlett Johanson
Chasuble- Mel Gibson
Merriman- Bill Murray

31. Spine

32. Spine and Theme
Also 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

33. Style

34. Style
Style 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

35. Directorial Concept

36. Directorial Concept
The 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