Oscar Wilde’s most dazzling comedy The Importance of Being Earnest comes to the West End this autumn as the National Theatre’s sell-out revival transfers to the Noël Coward Theatre — with Stephen Fry taking on Lady Bracknell. Here’s your complete briefing: dates, schedule, casting, creatives, running time and access shows, all in one place.
Stephen Fry (Lady Bracknell) joins Olly Alexander (Algernon), Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Jack), Hugh Dennis (Rev. Canon Chasuble), Shobna Gulati (Miss Prism), Kitty Hawthorne (Gwendolen), Jessica Whitehurst (Cecily) and Hayley Carmichael (Merriman/Lane). The transfer follows the National’s hit Lyttelton Theatre run and NT Live cinema release.
Dates & key info
- Dates: 18 September 2025 – 10 January 2026
- Running time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Venue: Noël Coward Theatre
- Performance schedule: Monday to Saturday at 7pm; Thursday & Saturday matinees at 2pm
- Booking tickets: The Importance of Being Earnest tickets
Creative team & style: Max Webster’s take
If you saw the National Theatre run, you’ll know: Max Webster’s Earnest is a joyful and flamboyant reimagining, honouring Wilde’s sparkling writing while turning up the play’s campness and theatricality. Here’s how that translates to the West End:
A consciously ‘high-camp’ frame
Reviews of the Lyttelton production called it flamboyantly queer, with drag-inflected style and a gleeful embrace of artifice — without puncturing Wilde’s “delicate bubble of fancy.” Expect the transfer to preserve that mischievous temperature, and catch up on the critics’ reviews here.
Design that dazzles, not distracts
Set and costume designer Rae Smith’s period fantasia, with lighting by Jon Clark and sound by Nicola T. Chang, frames the epigrams in showy surfaces that always serve the joke. The creative team remains in place for the Noël Coward Theatre transfer.
From Lyttelton hit to NT Live to West End
After a sell-out South Bank run, NT Live took the show to cinemas (from 20 Feb 2025), building appetite for the transfer; more than 165,000 UK cinemagoers have already seen the production.
Director’s intent
Webster has said he wants to celebrate Wilde’s elegance and rebellion, and with Stephen Fry, Olly Alexander and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett he’s “embracing the play’s subversive heart” again.
The full creative team of The Importance of Being Earnest includes director Max Webster, set and costume designer Rae Smith, lighting designer Jon Clark, sound designer Nicola T. Chang, movement director Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, composer D.J. Walde, casting director Alastair Coomer CDG, associate director Aaliyah McKay, associate set designer Tim Blazdell, associate costume designer Johanna Coe, associate lighting designer Hector Murray, associate sound designer Chris Reid, physical comedy advisor Joyce Henderson, intimacy coordinator Ingrid Mackinnon and voice and dialect coach Kate Godfrey.
Who’s in it? Meet the West End cast of The Importance of Being Earnest
Wilde’s haute-society farce lives or dies on the delivery of his perfectly crafted lines. Here’s who’s bringing the epigrams, side-eye and cucumber sandwiches to St Martin’s Lane — and where you may know them from.
Stephen Fry — Lady Bracknell
Author, broadcaster and stage star (Tony-nominated for Twelfth Night), Fry calls Earnest “life-changing,” making this long-mooted Bracknell a marquee event.
Olly Alexander — Algernon Moncrieff
Years & Years frontman and It’s A Sin breakout star swaps arenas for Algernon’s piano — mischief, bon mots and muffins incoming.
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett — Jack Worthing
From Misfits and Utopia to Candyman and Femme, and a wealth of roles on stage including the National and the Almeida, Stewart-Jarrett promises to bring a stealthy comic snap to Wilde’s Jack Worthing.
Hugh Dennis — Rev. Canon Chasuble
Comedy royalty, from Outnumbered to Punt & Dennis and Mock The Week, Hugh Dennis is ideal casting as the vicar whose gravitas keeps slipping!
Shobna Gulati — Miss Prism
From Coronation Street and Dinner Ladies to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Gulati’s comic poise and warmth are a perfect match for Wilde’s repressed romantic Miss Prism.
Kitty Hawthorne — Gwendolen Fairfax
The up-and-coming London actress, whose recent credits include the National Theatre’s Kerry Jackson and TV work such as Your Friends and Neighbours for Apple.
Jessica Whitehurst — Cecily Cardew
Rising talent with an array of stage credits, including Shakespeare’s Globe, and TV credits Sherwood and Grace.
Hayley Carmichael — Merriman/Lane
Physical-comedy ace, and Told by an Idiot co-founder Hayley Carmichael doubles as the unflappable butlers Merriman and Lane.
Lady Bracknell through the years: a brief stage & screen history
From Edith Evans’s granite vowels to David Suchet’s stately hauteur, Lady Bracknell has been theatre’s most relished dragon for 130 years. Here’s a brisk tour of iconic portrayals that Stephen Fry now joins.
Rose Leclercq (stage, 1895)
Rose Leclercq was the first ever Lady Bracknell, in the world premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest at the St James’s Theatre in London on 14 February 1895.
Edith Evans (stage from 1939; film, 1952)
Evans’s delivery of “A handbag?” shaped the role’s mythology. Following an acclaimed run in the West End and on tour, Anthony Asquith’s 1952 film immortalised Dame Edith Evans as the ultimate Bracknell.
Judi Dench (stage, 1982; film, 2002)
Dame Judi Dench first played Bracknell at the National Theatre in 1982 alongside Anna Massey as Miss Prism and Zoe Wanamaker as Gwendolen. In Oliver Parker’s screen version in 2002, Judi Dench chooses more of a velvet menace for her Lady B.
Joan Plowright (TV, 1986)
Dame Joan Plowright played Lady Bracknell in the BBC’s long-running play-to-screen strand “Theatre Night”, alongside Rupert Frazer and a young Paul McGann.
Maggie Smith (West End, 1993)
Dame Maggie Smith famously played Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest in the West End, at the Aldwych Theatre directed by Nicholas Hytner.
Brian Bedford (Broadway, 2011)
Fry certainly isn’t the first man to play Lady Bracknell. One of the first was Brian Bedford, who starred as Bracknell and directed, earning a Tony Award nomination.
Geoffrey Rush (Melbourne Theatre Company, 2011)
Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush’s Melbourne performance as Lady Bracknell underlined the role as a great vehicle for character actors.
David Suchet (West End, 2015)
At the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End, David Suchet (Poirot) offered an old-school grande dame with twinkling detail, proving a hit with audiences.
Sharon D Clarke (National Theatre, 2024)
Award-winner Sharon D Clarke played Lady Bracknell in this current production of The Importance of Being Earnest when it ran at the National Theatre across Christmas 2024 and into 2025. She co-starred alongside Ncuti Gatwa and Hugh Skinner.
Next: Stephen Fry (2025)
Fry’s West End Lady Bracknell enters this illustrious lineage this autumn at the Noël Coward Theatre.
First-timers’ guide to Earnest
New to Wilde? Start here. A spoiler-lite primer on plot, people and practicals—so you can book with confidence.
What’s it about?
Two friends, Jack and Algernon, lead double lives—and both pretend to be a man called “Ernest.” Their deceptions collide when they fall for Gwendolen and Cecily, overseen by the formidable Lady Bracknell. The result: a comedy of manners about identity, performance and social pretence.
Who’s who
- Jack Worthing: country gentleman with a secret city alias.
- Algernon Moncrieff: a witty dandy who “Bunburies” to avoid duty.
- Gwendolen & Cecily: modern-minded romantics with firm ideas about “Ernest.”
- Lady Bracknell, Miss Prism, Canon Chasuble: society’s gatekeeper, a repressed governess with a past, and a bashful vicar.
Stephen Fry on stage
Before Lady Bracknell, Stephen Fry’s theatre path has zigzagged from Shakespeare to solo myth-telling. Here are some milestones that explain why his Bracknell is a big deal.
George Blake, Cell Mates (Albery Theatre – now Noel Coward Theatre, 1995)
Stephen Fry has discussed candidly his sudden departure after 3 days from the original cast of Cell Mates starring with Rik Mayall. The experience kept him away from acting on stage for a significant time.
Malvolio, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe → West End → Broadway, 2012-2013)
Fry’s return to the stage after 17 years culminated in a 2014 Tony nomination (Featured Actor) as part of the all-male Shakespeare’s Globe company.
Myth-teller, Mythos: A Trilogy (London Palladium, 2019)
Fry spun his bestselling Greek-myth books into an erudite, witty solo trilogy over a special Palladium weekend.
Lady Bracknell, The Importance of Being Earnest (West End, 2014)
In 2014 Stephen Fry was set to direct and star in a West End production of The Importance of Being Earnest, playing Lady Bracknell, and produced by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers (Calendar Girls). However, the production was sadly cancelled and did not take place.
Lady Bracknell, The Importance of Being Earnest (Noel Coward Theatre, 2025)
A long-held ambition realised: Stephen Fry joins Max Webster’s transfer as Wilde’s ultimate gatekeeper.
Booking tickets to The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest is playing at the Noël Coward Theatre in London from 8 September 2025 until 10 January 2026.
Book tickets to The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre London
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