Arguably the most popular comedy of the English-speaking stage. The Importance of Being Ernest has also provoked intense, continuous debate since its 1895 premiere. Is it a light comedy, biting satire or witty farce of misunderstanding and mistaken identities? Or a perceptive, if superficially jovial, indictment of Victorian values, the hypocritical etiquette of courtship and marriage and the artificial politeness of high society.