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Stage review Wilde ride as Fry queers up a perfect lady

The Guardian

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October 02, 2025

The Importance of Being Earnest Noël Coward theatre, London ★★★☆☆

- David Jays

Oscar Wilde's comedy was, he said, “written by a butterfly, for butterflies”. Real life may threaten: the mercenary marriage market and cruel policing of desire that bit Wilde so savagely after the 1895 premiere. But the play holds us in a giddy bubble, and Max Webster's shameless production merrily queers the comedy, shoving subtext from the shadows.

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