The importance of seeing Earnest

Penelope Keith (Lady Bracknell) and Rebecca Night (Cecily Cardew) star in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Vaudeville in London. In an interview with the Guardian, Penelope Keith enthused about Wilde’s writing: ‘Every sentence is composed so amazingly, you can't change a syllable’ Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Wilde’s play follows the friendship between Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. Both men have aliases that they use when they leave the town for the country … and vice versa. In a 1909 production of the play at St James's Theatre, London, Sir George Alexander played Worthing and Allan Aynesworth starred as Moncrieff Photograph: Getty

John Gielgud and Robert Fleming in a 1939 production at the Globe Theatre. The cast included Edith Evans as Lady Bracknell Photograph: Corbis

'A handbag?' Having played the character on stage, Edith Evans reprised her role as Lady Bracknell in a 1952 film of the play. ‘I've played [Bracknell] everywhere except on ice and underwater,’ she told her biographer Photograph: Getty

Joan Greenwood and Michael Redgrave pose in a publicity still for the 1952 film, which was directed by Anthony Asquith Photograph: Daniel Farson/Getty

Dorothy Tutin made her film debut as Cecily Cardew in the 1952 film, promoted in this lobby card Photograph: PR

The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre in 1982. The dream cast included Anna Massey as Miss Prism, Zoe Wanamaker as Gwendolen and Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell Photograph: Alastair Muir/Rex

In a 1993 production at the Aldwych, Maggie Smith’s Lady Bracknell mouthed the word ‘handbag’ Photograph: Tristram Kenton

The Aldwych cast also included Alex Jennings (John Worthing), Susannah Harker (Gwendolen), Richard E. Grant (Algernon) and Claire Skinner (Cecily) Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Fraser Steele and Patricia Routledge in a 2001 production at the Savoy Theatre. Lyn Gardner thought that Routledge played Lady Bracknell as 'a woman whose sense contrasts with the silliness of the next generation' Photograph: Tristram Kenton

In a 2002 film of the play, Colin Firth starred as Jack alongside Reese Witherspoon as Cecily and Frances O’Connor as Gwendolen. The movie was directed by Oliver Parker, who previously brought Wilde’s An Ideal Husband to the screen Photograph: Paul Chedlow

Judi Dench was Lady Bracknell in Parker’s film, which earned just two stars from Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw: 'The souffle rises about a quarter of the way before stodgily collapsing' Photograph: Paul Chedlow

Jon Haynes and David Woods, who perform as Ridiculusmus, took on multiple roles in their 2005 production of the play at the Barbican's Pit. Woods played Jack and Cecily; Hough played Algie and Gwendolyn. They both played Lady Bracknell Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Daisy Haggard (Gwendolyn Fairfax) and Rebecca Night (Cecily Cardew) in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Vaudeville in London. Michael Billington gave this latest West End production four stars, praising ‘the fast-rising Ms Haggard’ who ‘reminds us that Wilde’s world abounds in strong women’ Photograph: Tristram Kenton