Due to COVID-19, Seattle Rep's production of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by Oscar Wilde was cancelled. This list of books and films, compiled in order to enhance patrons' experience of the show, was created by librarians at Seattle Public Library prior to the pandemic.
The Importance of Being Earnest
The script of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, for your reading pleasure.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View The Importance of Being EarnestHay Fever
Sometimes referred to as Wilde’s “literary heir,” British playwright Coward was known for his wickedly amusing farces which poked fun at social mores. If you’re not familiar with his plays, Hay Fever is a great place to start.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View Hay FeverThe Happy Prince
Rupert Everett stars as Wilde in this 2018 film about the last years of his life after he is released from Reading Prison and wanders Europe in self-imposed exile.
Format: DVD
Availability: Available
View The Happy PrinceThe Importance of Being Earnest
This 2002 film adaptation of Wilde’s play features a star-studded cast including Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Judi Dench and Reese Witherspoon.
Format: DVD
Availability: Available
View The Importance of Being EarnestOscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest
In this 1952 film adaptation directed by Anthony Asquith, Michael Redgrave and Edith Evans star as Ernest Worthing and Lady Bracknell respectively.
Format: DVD
Availability: No Longer Available
View Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being EarnestGross Indecency
Award-winning playwright Kaufman dramatizes the notorious 1895 trial of Wilde for “gross indecency,” which occurred only a few months after THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST debuted in London.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View Gross IndecencyMaking Oscar Wilde
This recent biography of Wilde by a well-regarded literary scholar sheds new light on a much-analyzed literary figure.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View Making Oscar WildeThe Complete Plays
Want more Wilde? Read his other plays in this collection, which includes an appendix with the best material from the fourth act of the original version of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View The Complete PlaysDe Profundis
Edited by Colm Tóibín, this collection contains some of Wilde’s last writings, including his letters to loved ones and acquaintances from prison as well as “De Profundis” and “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.”
Format: Book
Availability: Available
View De ProfundisThe Oscar Wilde Collection
This audiobook collection contains recordings of Wilde’s four comedies, including THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, as well as a dramatization of The Portrait of Dorian Gray.
Format: Audiobook CD
Availability: All copies in use
View The Oscar Wilde Collection