“You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.” — Oscar Wilde, from his book, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” in 1891
MANSFIELD — Oscar Wilde earned his way into the high society of Victorian England with self-promotion, intellectual brilliance and charisma.
He then used that same razor-sharp wit to expose the absurdity of an elite class that valued moral posturing over actual morality — while also making people laugh along the way.
Such is the case with his 1895 comedy, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which opens Friday night at the Mansfield Playhouse with a 10-member ensemble cast.
To Wilde, high society’s obsession with title, wealth, and surface-level virtue was tedious — and destructive to individual expression.
Through masterpieces like “The Importance of Being Earnest,” Wilde satirized how the aristocracy treated trivial matters — like tea service or social etiquette — with gravitas, while reducing profound human experiences like love, art and truth to mere status transactions.
Wilde believed true sophistication lay in artistic authenticity, individual freedom and candid intelligence. He made the rigid, hollow performance of the Victorian upper class a target of his humor and critique.
In this show, Wilde creates a world where trivial matters are treated with serious gravity — and serious matters are treated as a complete joke.
‘It’s a role I was born to play’
It’s a message that resonates with many, including Andrea Clark, portraying Lady Bracknell for a third time in her acting career. The character acts as the ultimate gatekeeper of high-society respectability, lineage, and wealth.
“It’s the role I was born to play,” Clark said. “She is supposed to be a tall, large woman. There aren’t a lot of parts written for tall, large women.
“My personality is not like hers in that I don’t try to be mean and control the world … but I sure would like to,” she said with a laugh.
Clark first played Lady Bracknell in 1992 while living in Idaho and then again at the Mansfield Playhouse in 1997. Busy with the family business, Carrousel Magic, after coming to Mansfield, Clark also earned a law degree in 2009 and worked as an attorney and court magistrate.
Lady Bracknell’s formidable interrogations remain among the most celebrated comedic moments in theatre history.
Clark’s return to the stage has been a comfort.
“When I picked up the script this time, everything was very familiar — enough so that I could tell that we had an abridged script because there were lines that I remembered saying that were not in this new script,” Clark said.
“It came back pretty quickly, although it was harder to memorize …. 28 years between shows … my memory cells are not what they used to be,” she said.
“The costumers are terrific this go around. I think overall, the age of the cast was a bit more mature (in 1997). We’ve got some real young players on the stage,” she said.
(Below are photos taken Monday evening during a dress rehearsal for “The Importance of Being Earnest,” a comedy which opens Friday evening at the Mansfield Playhouse. The story continues below the images.)
Doug Wertz: This has been a fun group to work with
Director Doug Wertz, who also has a role in the show, praised the cast, which includes some new faces and also young adults who came up through the Mansfield Playhouse youth productions.
“This has been a really eclectic group, a nice collection of cast members, a fun group to work with,” he said.
He said Wilde’s work, penned 131 years ago, remains a classic comedy.
The play follows two bachelor friends, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who both adopt the fictitious alter ego “Ernest” to escape their tedious social obligations and pursue the women they love.
However, their web of deceit quickly unravels in a whirlwind of mistaken identity, formidable matriarchs, and high-society absurdity.
How does “The Importance of Being Earnest” remain so enduring and contemporary?
“I think a lot of it’s open to interpretation when it comes down to how do you present it. This is a show that it takes place in three different locations. It makes it more difficult to change sets unless you have space (above the stage) and a huge crew.
“You can do a very minimalistic staging with area lighting or you can try to do something a little bit more artistic about it,” Wertz said.
“But I think the lure is actually the comedy. The lines. There’s so many contradictions throughout the whole thing, which I think is just great. Everybody wants to put on airs. It’s all about the aristocracy and how uppity and snooty they can be andreally putting down the lower class.
“It’s just funny how it unravels,” Wertz said.
Real-life couple provide play’s romantic spark
In the show, the characters of Jack Worthing and Gwendolen Fairfax sit at the center of the romantic plot, acting as vehicles for Wilde’s sharp satire of Victorian social expectations, morality and romantic ideals.
Together, the two drive the play’s main romantic engine.
So it’s fitting the roles are played by a real-life husband and wife, Noah and Abby Burton, both of whom performed at the Playhouse youth theater in the past and have continued as adults.
The two met during “The Magician’s Nephew” in 2021, the theater’s annual Christmas holiday show. Now married, they have a 6-month-old daughter, Amelia.
The 22-year-old Noah Burton was last on stage at the Playhouse in the musical “Cinderella” in 2023, a show in which Abby Burton assisted with costumes.
Abby Burton previously played Lady Bracknell in her college’s production of the show in Indiana. She recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in theatre.
“I’ve gotten to see the show a few times. My wife’s gotten to be in the show when she was at college. It’s just such a fun show, so I definitely wanted to be part of it,” Noah Burton said.
“We were just moving back to Ohio at the time when they were holding auditions and I’m like, ‘Hey, let’s just go try out for this.’ It was kind of a thing where neither of us had to really say anything. We both love (the show),” Noah Burton said.
“Jack or Algernon are just such fun characters. I would have loved to be either of them, but I was fine with any role. I didn’t have anything particular in mind, but it worked out that I got Jack and my wife got Gwendolyn,” he said.
“It’s just a fun show all around. There’s no small characters,” he said.
The couple lives in Lexington and Noah Burton works as an electrical engineer in Columbus.
“I studied architecture in college. So my end goal is to be a drafter more in the form of like building design and even like urban design. But I’ll take what I can get. If somebody wants to pay me to draw pictures of telephone poles and conduit lines and stuff like that, I’m more than willing to do that,” he said.
Newcomers help highlight clash between Victorian discipline and desire.
Two of the newcomers to the Mansfield Playhouse stage in this show are Josette Ballou as Cecily Cardew and Bailey Maxfield as Miss Prism.
The two characters represent the romantic and educational dynamics of Worthing’s country estate in Hertfordshire. Together, they serve as foils to one another and their relationship highlights the clash between Victorian discipline and youthful desire.
The 19-year-old Ballou is a student at The Ohio State University-Mansfield, studying primary education with the goal of becoming an art teacher.
The Lakewood High School graduate has performed in other venues, but is making her on-stage Mansfield Playhouse debut.
“I’ve been wanting to do (this show) for years now since I first read the script. This is actually one of my dream roles, so I was very happy to get that (audition) notice.
“I just love (Cecily’s) carefree nature. She’s so 18 years old, where she just wants love, but she doesn’t want all the responsibility of it. She’s sick of schooling and she just wants to be free.
“And she’s very pouty, which is really fun to play. She’s just a hoot,” Ballou said.
The 30-year-old Maxfield grew up in the Marion area, graduating from Ridgedale High School and then Bowling Green State University. She works as a voice and beginning piano teacher at Richland Academy of the Arts in Mansfield.
What attracted her to make her Mansfield Playhouse debut?
“Well, I love Oscar Wilde. I have always loved Oscar Wilde. He’s one of my favorite writers, poets, everything. It’s just a wonderfully delightful show,” Maxfield said.
“I love old theaters. I think there’s so much character to them. It sounds silly, but it’s a wonderful atmosphere just to be in. You can really feel it,” she said.
As the governess in the show, Maxfield said she finds interesting the surface story of Miss Prism … and her backstory.
“She appears all prim and proper and yes, having a high moral tone, but then … not really to spoil anything … she wasn’t always this put together as we would expect a governess to be in her past,” she said.
“The Importance of Being Earnest” cast
Directed by Doug Wertz
Josette Ballou plays Cecily Cardew
Abby Burton plays Gwendoline Fairfax
Noah Burton plays John Worthing (Jack)
Andrea Clark plays Lady Bracknell
Jill Cochran plays Servant
Jacob Hunsinger plays Lane
Bailey Maxfield plays Miss Prism
Jacob Palmer plays Algernon Moncrieff
Doug Wertz plays Merriman
Ethan Wilson plays Rev. Canon Chasuble
Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and $10 for students. (18 and under). Order tickets online at https://www.mansfieldplayhouse.com. You can also call the box office Wednesday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and one hour prior to each production at 419-522-2883.
