Q 01/05

What is the subtitle of The Importance of Being Earnest?

A) A Serious Comedy for Trivial People

B) A Comedy of Manners in Three Acts

C) A Farce for the Idle Rich

D) A Trivial Comedy for Serious People

Answer · why

D) A Trivial Comedy for Serious People

Wilde originally had it the other way round, "a Serious Comedy for Trivial People", before flipping it in revision.

Q 02/05

On what date in 1895 did the play open at the St James's Theatre?

A) 1 April, All Fools' Day

B) 25 December, Christmas Day

C) 14 February, Valentine's Day

D) 31 October, Halloween

Answer · why

C) 14 February, Valentine's Day

Wilde arrived wearing a green carnation, and the audience rose and cheered again and again.

Q 03/05

Which of Wilde's plays came directly before this one, making it the last of his four drawing-room comedies?

A) Lady Windermere's Fan

B) An Ideal Husband

C) A Woman of No Importance

D) Salome

Answer · why

B) An Ideal Husband

Both of his final comedies were still running in London when his prosecution began, and both soon closed.

Q 04/05

Which two young women do the heroes woo under the name Ernest?

A) Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew

B) Lady Windermere and Mrs Erlynne

C) Mabel Chiltern and Mrs Cheveley

D) Hester Worsley and Mrs Arbuthnot

Answer · why

A) Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew

The other pairs come from Wilde's earlier comedies Lady Windermere's Fan, An Ideal Husband and A Woman of No Importance.

Q 05/05

What is the name of Algernon's invented invalid friend in the country?

A) Gribsby

B) Bunbury

C) Merriman

D) Lane

Answer · why

B) Bunbury

Visiting him is a handy excuse to escape social obligations; the name may come from a hypochondriac acquaintance of Wilde's youth.