Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest comes to the Spriet Stage at the Grand Theatre, from March 24 through April 12.

With Files Provided by The Grand Theatre

An all-new, London-made production of Oscar Wilde’s classic romp of friendship and falsehoods will take to the Spriet Stage at the Grand Theatre, running from March 24 through April 12. Director Alistair Newton helms a vivid, design-forward staging of The Importance of Being Earnest with an attention to the aesthetic that rivals perhaps even that of Wilde himself. 

“The Importance is rife with biting wit and social commentary that remain relevant today, delighting audiences around the world for more than one hundred years now. If we were going to bring this play back to our audiences at the Grand, we wanted to bring a bold idea to it,” shares Rachel Peake, Artistic Director of the Grand Theatre. “Enter Director Alistair Newton.”

(Pictured: Alistair Newton. Photo Credit: David Cooper.)

Newton has penned new text, “On the Language of Fans”, and has introduced a new role – Lady Stella Clinton. Also known as Ernest Boulton, Lady Stella was a 19^th-century queer trailblazer who famously fainted when she was found innocent in the trial of the century, after being arrested for wearing women’s clothes. In Newton’s The Importance, Lady Stella will delight audiences with a pair of musical numbers by Gilbert and Sullivan that have been added to the show.

Billy Lake makes his Grand Theatre debut as Lady Stella Clinton and joins a familiar cast of characters, including Deena Aziz as Miss Prism, James Daly as Algernon Moncrieff, Julien Galipeau as John Worthing, Kaylee Harwood as Gwendolen Fairfax, Claire Jullien as Lady Bracknell, Ben Sanders as Rev. Canon Chasuble  / Lane, and Mirabella Sundar Singh as Cecily Cardew.

(Pictured: Billy Lake as Lady Stella Clinton. Photo Credit: Mai Tilson.)

“Productions of The Importance are usually accompanied by associations –heavy curtains, fussy furniture, lace doilies – which are drawn more from our culture’s received ideas about the late Victorian period than from an aesthetic universe whose dramatic language included melodrama and the transgressive queerness of the music hall,” says Newton. “In fact, Wilde’s plays have the potential to illuminate the 19th Century in ways that challenge many of these preconceptions, full as they are of secret codes, hidden symbols, double entendres, and perhaps above all, delightful paradoxes.”

Featuring opulent, high-fashion wardrobe, the production will be colour-blocked with each act unveiling itself as vividly monochromatic. “The green of Act One comes from the code of the dyed carnation flowers which Wilde and his set wore on their lapels to identify one another,” reveals Newton. “The yellow of Act Two is the same hue as the covers of ‘decadent’ French literature of the period, as well as of the Yellow Book, a publication of the Aesthetic Movement. The red of Act Three is taken from Wilde’s vermillion office at his family’s London home on Tite Street; a blast of shocking, subversive colour amidst an otherwise tastefully minimal, and mostly white, interior.”

(The Importance of Being Ernest. Costume Design by Judith Bowden. Photo Credit: Mai Tilson.)

Newton’s vision becomes reality through the show’s creative team which includes Stephen Ingram as Music Director, George Absi as Choreographer, Michelle Tracey as Set Designer, Judith Bowden as Costume Designer, Siobhán Sleath as Lighting Designer, Olivia Wheeler as Sound Designer, Phyllis Cohen as Dialect Coach, Michael Hart as Stage Manager, Jordan Guetter as Assistant Stage Manager, and Tsz Ting Lam as Apprentice Stage Manager.

With the show’s innovative design, spectacular wit, and the addition of song, dance, and drag, this London-made production of The Importance of Being Earnest highlights the underlying queer code that exists throughout Wilde’s masterpiece. 

Director Alistair Newton on The Importance of Being Earnest at the Grand Theatre: https://youtu.be/aY7sdbTvr30?si=SbutewNaAes6hcg2

Creative Team

Alistair Newton – Director

Stephen Ingram – Music Director

George Absi – Choreographer

Michelle Tracey – Set Designer

Judith Bowden – Costume Designer

Siobhán Sleath – Lighting Designer

Olivia Wheeler – Sound Designer

Phyllis Cohen – Dialect Coach

Michael Hart – Stage Manager

Jordan Guetter – Assistant Stage Manager

Tsz Ting Lam – Apprentice Stage Manager

Cast

Deena Aziz – Miss Prism

James Daly – Algernon Moncrieff

Julien Galipeau – John Worthing

Kaylee Harwood – Gwendolen Fairfax

Claire Jullien – Lady Bracknell

Billy Lake – Lady Stella Clinton / Merriman

Ben Sanders – Rev. Canon Chasuble  / Lane

Mirabella Sundar Singh – Cecily Cardew

IF YOU GO:

What: Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest

When: March 24-April 12, 2026.

Where: Spriet Stage at the Grand Theatre, 471 Richmond Street, London, ON.

Tickets: Single tickets range from $25 to $97 and are available in-person at the Box Office, by phone at 519.672.8800, and online at grandtheatre.com/event/importance-of-being-earnest.