Oscar Wilde & The Importance of Being Earnest

OSCAR WILDE &
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

A Two-Part Webinar Series hosted By Alan Stanford

February 5 & 12, 2021 Live on Youtube: 2pm EST

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!  Join Alan Stanford for another in-depth look at the inspirations and motivations of Oscar Wilde, through the lens of his most famous work, The Importance of Being Earnest. This interactive webinar will be presented over two weeks for free through our PICT Educates webinar series. Tune in live at 2pm EST on Fridays, or enjoy the replay at your leisure on PICT’s Youtube channel.

PART I: Who is Your Father? A Question of Breeding
Friday, February 5 | Watch Here

All the plays of Oscar Wilde are a satiric examination of class. At the time that Wilde was writing, Britain was in the process of building the greatest Empire the world had ever seen – and leading that endeavor was an aristocracy of such power that it became the world’s most exclusive club. Wilde entertained that club with comedies so perfect that his audience failed to see that it was themselves who were satirized and themselves at whom they were laughing. This week we will examine his dissection of the Aristocracy through the relationships in Earnest.

PART II: The Topsy-Turvy World of Words
Friday, February 12 | Watch Here

The genius of Wilde as a playwright and essayist was in his profound understanding of both the majesty and magic of words. And his command, not only of English, but of French, Latin and Ancient Greek gave him a flexibility of word usage that was the envy of lesser wordsmiths. His ability to turn a phrase into a perfect epigram or silver-tongued dialogue can be witnessed in the text of his most delicious of comedies, The Importance of Being Earnest. This week we will examine him as, in the words of his lover Bosie Douglas, “The Lord of Language.”