On this day in 1895, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest opened in London. Wilde called his play a "Trivial Comedy for Serious People," and the opening night reviewers concurred: "There is no discordant note of seriousness. It is of nonsense all compact, and better nonsense, I think, our stage has not seen." The opening night audience expected their applause to bring the author out for a curtain call. When an actor went backstage to ask Wilde if he would do so, he demurred: "I don't think I shall take a call tonight. You see, I took one only last month at Haymarket, and one feels so much like a German band ... FULL STORY »
