The voices of The Importance of Being Earnest
10 voices in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Every one is a separate voice, cast to the character as written.
- Narrator — Reads the stage directions for this theatrical comedy of manners. Sparse, precise, and elegant — sets scenes and actions between the sparkling dialogue.
- Jack Worthing — A respectable country gentleman who leads a double life — earnest and responsible in the country, inventing a dissolute brother called Ernest in town. Secretly an orphan of unknown parentage.
- Algernon Moncrieff — Jack's witty, idle, pleasure-seeking friend in London. Invents an invalid friend named Bunbury to escape social obligations. Charming, amoral, and effortlessly superior.
- Gwendolen Fairfax — Lady Bracknell's daughter and Jack's beloved. Confident, fashion-conscious, and utterly devoted to the name Ernest — which she regards as the only truly safe name for a husband.
- Cecily Cardew — Jack's ward, living at his country estate. Romantic, imaginative, and headstrong. Has been secretly keeping a diary of an entirely imaginary engagement to Ernest.
- Lady Bracknell — Gwendolen's mother, the play's great comic tyrant. Magnificently imperious, class-obsessed, and entirely convinced of her own authority. Her interrogation of Jack is one of the most celebrated scenes in English comedy.
- Miss Prism — Cecily's governess — prim, morally earnest, and secretly romantic. Harbours a dark secret: she once lost a baby in a handbag at Victoria Station. Clearly smitten with Canon Chasuble.
- Canon Chasuble — The local clergyman — pompous, scholarly, and oblivious. Fond of classical allusions and prepared christening sermons. Clearly and mutually smitten with Miss Prism.
- Lane — Algernon's manservant — deadpan, unflappable, and entirely unmoved by his employer's absurdities. Delivers information with perfect composure.
- Merriman — Jack's butler at the Manor House — dignified and brief. Announces arrivals and delivers messages with impeccable decorum.
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