Set at the turn of the 20th century, The Importance of Being Earnest skewers Victorian social manners with hilarious satire about two friends, Jack and Algernon, who are both courting young women under false identities. The story ranges from Jack’s country estate to Algernon’s London town home, with Algernon’s formidable aunt, Lady Bracknell, embodying the staid traditions of the British upper class and delivering some of the play’s most oft-quoted lines