Ncuti Gatwa to make National Theatre debut in The Importance Of Being Earnest

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Ncuti Gatwa is set to make his National Theatre debut in a new production of Oscar Wilde’s comedy The Importance Of Being Earnest.The Doctor Who and Sex Education star, who grew up in Glasgow, will play the idle gentleman Algernon Moncrieff alongside W1A actor Hugh Skinner, who will portray the protagonist Jack Worthing.Reimagined by director Max Webster, whose production of Life Of Pi won five Olivier Awards and three Tonys, the play will run in the Lyttelton Theatre from November 20 to January 25 2025.The show, first performed in 1895, follows Jack, who assumes the role of a dutiful guardian in the country but lets loose in the town under the false identity of a man named Ernest.His close friend Algernon has also created a similar facade as he pretends he has an ill friend named Bunbury in the country who he visits when he wants to avoid social obligations.Their double lives have their drawbacks, especially when it comes to love.As the gentlemen hope to impress two eligible ladies, they find themselves caught in a web of lies from which they must carefully navigate.The cast also sees Mary Queen Of Scots actor Richard Cant play Reverend Canon Chasuble, Doctor Who actress Sharon D Clarke as Lady Bracknell and Star Wars’ Amanda Lawrence as Miss Prism.Rufus Norris, director of the National Theatre, said: “It is a joy to be welcoming Max Webster in his National Theatre directorial debut with a new production of Oscar Wilde’s hilariously subversive comedy The Importance of Being Earnest.“Max has assembled an extraordinary cast to reimagine one of our greatest comedies, with Ncuti Gatwa making his National Theatre debut.“We are also delighted to welcome back Richard Cant, Amanda Lawrence, Hugh Skinner and Sharon D Clarke, who