BurlOak Theatre Group Brings British Wit to Oakville Centre in Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”

By: Emily R. Zarevich, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Burlington Local-News.ca

It starts, as most period dramas do, with the clomp-clomp of horses’ hooves. The curtains open upon an elegant English drawing room. First-world problems ensue. Too many bottles of expensive champagne were drunk at a dinner party. The butler’s life stories are boring. Oh no, a stuffy, rich aunt is coming to visit! There’s an argument to be made that Irish playwright Oscar Wilde’s renowned satire The Importance of Being Earnest could be appropriately renamed First World Problems: A Comedy in Three Acts. On Thursday, January 22, 2026, the BurlOak Theatre Group presented Wilde’s classic mockery of upper-class nonsense at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts on yet another chilly, snowy evening. Society was, in the greatest Wildean fashion, successfully slandered on a stupendous scale.

Audiences on opening night undoubtedly anticipated a repertoire of fast-paced witticisms delivered with exaggerated British accents, and the cast duly delivered. Their target was to make all of Wilde’s characters appear quirky, sheltered, overly opinionated, and prone to following invisible, made-up societal rules. At this, they excelled. Directed by Angie Fyke and produced by Erin Ross and Ryan Fisher, this version of The Importance of Being Earnest doesn’t excuse anyone from coming across as entertainingly ridiculous, and this includes bachelors, grand dames, debutantes, ingénues, servants, and clergymen alike.

Spencer Bloch plays the lead, Jack Worthing, as a straightlaced, late Victorian gentleman whose laces are unravelling quickly. He’s hopelessly in love with the savvy socialite Gwendolen Fairfax, played by Marie Henning, who returns his feelings (to the best of her flaky ability). Gwendolen’s hand in marriage is being gatekept by her indomitable mother, Lady Bracknell, who is played in drag by Mark Ellis, as the role is traditionally a cross-dressing one.

In order to lead an auspicious double life as responsible country landowner and London man-about-town, Worthing has invented the persona of a nonexistent, party boy younger brother Ernest Worthing, on whom he can blame all his misconduct and avoid taking accountability for any of his actions. Naturally, the existence of this alter ego leads to a plotline of mistaken identities and misunderstandings, culminating in Worthing having to learn to be honest at last. Playing opposite Bloch is Vincent Perri as Worthing’s best friend and confidante Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon, or “Algie,” is an insufferably nonchalant dandy and layabout, flinging around clever quips and getting into mischief out of sheer boredom. Like Worthing, he’s a practiced liar, and makes up an invalid friend as an excuse to run away from his own problems.

Algie’s new mission in life is to woo Jack Worthing’s attractive ward Cecily Cardew, who is played by Diena Howe. Cecily is a curious and innocent eighteen-year-old who, isolated from the real world, has imagined an entire relationship with the mythologized adventurer “Ernest.” Her strict and shrill-voiced governess Miss Prism, played by Claire Prendergast, has clearly not given the poor girl enough to do with her time. Joining the cast on stage are Rod McTaggart as Miss Prism’s self-important beau, the Reverend Chasuble, and Sumer Seth and Rikki Wright as the disgruntled butlers Lane and Merriman. Every character is delightfully pompous in their own way.

Mark Ellis’s exceptional performance as Lady Bracknell stands out for combining the character’s puffy, comedic elitism with a respectful classiness and three-dimensionality. Ellis plays Lady Bracknell, in turn, as a tremendous snob, a hypocrite, a shielded noblewoman whose knowledge of the world barely extends beyond her own parlour, an overly protective mother of Gwendolen, and fond aunt of Algernon. The costumers can be commended for properly attiring her as a true fashionable and formidable lady dowager (though her unseen, homebody husband is still alive offstage somewhere). Applause for Ellis on opening night on January 22 was rapturous.

Another standout performance was Diena Howe as Cecily Cardew. Howe can be doubly congratulated as, according to the program, this performance was her official debut with the BurlOak Theatre Group. Howe’s Cecily is a dear, silly little romantic who doesn’t have a clue what she’s getting into by becoming involved with a rake like Algernon Moncrieff. Late Victorian romance and marriage narrative tropes, as they appear in this 1895 play, might have modern audiences scratching their heads a bit. “Isn’t she a bit young for this?” they might ask themselves. Not according to Wilde. Audiences may similarly wonder what Gwendolen and Cecily see in these deceiving, fraudulent men. Again, modern attitudes need to be subtracted in order to enjoy the storyline at full capacity.

Opening night hit a few technical snags. Minor issues with the sound and the microphones meant that, on occasion, an actor’s line faded away, and the audience strained to hear a character’s inflated viewpoint or veiled insult of another character. In Act Three, which takes place in the drawing room of Jack Worthing’s country house, the windows suspended from the ceiling swayed slightly on their ropes, which was a slightly distracting background event while the characters were busy tying up loose ends. But these are only minor afflictions and easily mendable. The hard work put into assembling three separate sets for three separate acts can be credited to set designer Taylor Sinstadt and crew. Like the running of a Victorian household, the putting-together of a show such as The Importance of Being Earnest requires a full, capable staff.

The final performance of BurlOak Theatre Group’s The Importance of Being Earnest will be a matinee, taking place on Sunday, January 25, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. After the show concludes, the company will get straight to work preparing for their production of the Tony Award-nominated musical Rock of Ages, which will open at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. Tickets are $43.00 and can be bought here.