3-082-308 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Importance of Being Ernest," Mr. Oscar Wilde's new play at the St. James's Theatre, 1895. 'Act II; Oscar Wilde, the writer of the play; Doing Bunbury in the country...a piece of delightful nonsense...pure farce...when Mr. Alexander is heard ransacking a box-room, and when he reappears with the bag which is to establish his identity as a man of aristocratic lineage, the delight in a certain part of the theatre knows no bounds. Less literal playgoers are more amused by the colloquy between Mr. Alexander and Miss Rose Leclercq, who points out to him that a suitor for her daughter's hand cannot expect that young lady to marry into a cloak-room. The most successful situation in the farce is the appearance of Mr. Alexander in deep mourning for the loss of an imaginary brother who at that moment is personated by Mr. Allan Aynesworth in the course of an adventure described as "Bunburying." Bunbury is a mythical friend who has a habit of summoning Mr. Aynesworth to his sick bed when that young gentleman finds it convenient to disappear...his Bunbury...is handled with precisely the right touch of irresponsibility, by Mr. Aynesworth, whose mercurial genius even includes the capacity for eating muffins as if they were air'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.