Herberger Theater Center
222 E Monroe Ave
Phoenix, AZ

602-258-5986
Arizona Theater Company

March 23 - 26

Sir Peter Hall’s new Theatre Royal Bath production of Oscar Wilde’s comic masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest, comes to Phoenix for an exclusive limited engagement at the Herberger Theater Center. Phoenix is one of only five cities on a tour that will end at the prestigious Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. This landmark production stars Lynn Redgrave and is directed by Sir Peter Hall, one of the world’s greatest directors and whose work has never before been seen in Arizona.

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the funniest and most popular plays ever written. Brimming with wit and wisdom, it is the tale of two young men in late 1890’s England who bend the truth to add a dash of excitement to their lives, and the hilarious misadventures and romantic entanglements that ensue.

British troupe's 'Earnest' coming to Herberger

Kyle Lawson
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 18, 2006 12:00 AM

Anglophile is a word used to describe lovers of all things Brit. It certainly fits Arizona Theatre Company, which continues its love affair with John Bull by hosting one of seven American stops for Theatre Royal Bath's production of The Importance of Being Earnest.

The company will bring the Oscar Wilde comedy to the Herberger Theater Center for a March 23-26 run, it was announced last week by David Ira Goldstein, artistic director, and Jessica Andrews, managing director. The production is touring America in advance of its opening at Theatre Royal's home stage in the English resort city of Bath.

"When we heard that there was an open week in the tour, we jumped at the chance to bring this internationally important production to Arizona," Goldstein said. "In the past, we have sponsored tours of British dramas (Othello, Hamlet). We thought it was high time we tried a comedy." advertisement

Lynn Redgrave is starring in Wilde's masterpiece, which is directed by Sir Peter Hall, generally regarded as the greatest living director of British theater.

Hall, who gained prominence with his helming of the England-language première of Waiting for Godot, founded the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1960 and later was director of the National Theatre and artistic director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

He has directed 28 Shakespeare plays, nine world premières of works by Harold Pinter and numerous operas, including a celebrated production of Wagner's Ring Cycle at Bayreuth. He received America's Tony Award for The Homecoming and Amadeus.

Earnest is one of several British productions that have introduced ATC audiences to some of that country's greatest stage personalities.

In 1997, the Herberger welcomed the British National Theatre's Othello and its director, Sam Mendes, just before Mendes began filming American Beauty, which would earn him an Oscar. The National's Hamlet, which arrived in 2001, starred Simon Russell Beale, who's now on Broadway in Spamalot, the Monty Python musical.

Earlier, in 1996, Redgrave came to the Herberger in Shakespeare for My Father.

Earnest, which also stars Miriam Margolyes, most recently seen as Professor Sprout in the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will be presented on the Herberger's Center Stage, 222 E. Monroe St., Phoenix. Tickets range from $40-$70 and are available at (602) 256-6995.

Reach the reporter at kyle.lawson@arizonarepublic.com or (480) 947-9673.

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