Oscar Wilde's play is an unsurpassed feat of comedic work for the stage. Written in 1895, it has become one of the most widely performed Western comedies, following a pair of socially ambitious young men living in London at the turn of the century. It is revealed in the opening scene that the two men assume split identities to account for their bachelor lifestyles in the city and more demure countryside behavior. As the story unwinds a hilarious tale of mistaken identity, love and deception unfolds. A farce of Victorian society at the time it was written, Wilde's unflinchingly brazen wit takes arms with the social niceties and restrictive decorum of the time. Continually relevant, generation after generation, Wilde's incisive satire remains as fresh today as it was in its premiere.
