Having forever entered the pantheon of humanity’s great novelists, the author of The Portrait of Dorian Gray evokes waves of laughter and thought through his satires of the mores of his time. Oscar Wilde published his comedy The Importance of Being Earnest in 1895, a few years after his magnum opus, in which he poignantly commented on Puritanism and the pharisaical behaviour of the ruling class. Through the hilarious “identity” adventures in which the play’s two protagonists, Jack and Algernon, get involved, the audience is introduced to Oscar Wilde’s bold puns and unparalleled style of dialogue.

The most recent edition of the work by Angelakis Publications consists of the translation-theatrical adaptation by Panagiotis Liakos, which highlights the speed of the dialogues and the timeliness of the satire more than 100 years after the writing of the work, as well as a brief introduction by the philologist Lorenzo Carrea, focusing on the biographical elements of the great writer and the concept of dualism that permeates his entire work.