Plays
Between February 1892 and February 1895 Wilde opened four comedies in the West End, and for a few months in 1895 two of them were running at once. He was arrested that April, and both were taken off.
The four society comedies are below, act by act. His other plays, from the early tragedies Vera and The Duchess of Padua to Salome, are being prepared for the site.
Lady Windermere's Fan
A young wife suspects her husband of an affair with a woman of doubtful reputation, and one birthday ball and a forgotten fan decide everything. Wilde's first society comedy.
A Woman of No Importance
A charming, cynical lord offers a young man a career, not knowing the young man is his own son. A comedy of manners with a hard question about how women are judged.
An Ideal Husband
A rising politician built his fortune on a secret, and a clever adventuress arrives in London to sell it back to him. Blackmail, marriage and public virtue under pressure.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Two young men invent imaginary people to escape their obligations, and both end up engaged under the name Ernest. Wilde's most famous play and his funniest.