By Daniel Larios
Staff Writer

September 24, 2014 -- "This suspense is terrible,” Oscar Wilde once said. “I hope it will last.” If you agree with the sentiment, you may want to catch Wilde's classic comedy "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the Santa Monica Public Library on October 2.

The Santa Monica Rep theater company’s dramatic reading of the farce about keeping up appearances -- subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People” -- will kick off a month-long celebration of the 160th birthday of the Irish writer and wit.

The show will start at 7 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium.  Free tickets will be released one hour before the performance in the lobby outside the Auditorium.

"Wilde’s final play, 'The Importance of Being Earnest' is a delirious farce in which two gentlemen, bored with the strictures of Victorian morality, take on the false identity of 'Ernest' while wooing young women," said Santa Monica Public Service Librarian Robert Graves.

"Along the way, two young ladies fall in love with 'Ernest,' resulting in a hilarious tangle of mistaken identities and sparkling wordplay," he added.  "The additional interference of a fussy society matron complicates matters even further."

Considered to be Wilde's most famous play, "The Importance of Being Earnest" debuted at the St. James's Theatre in London on February 14, 1895 at the height of Wilde's popularity and success.

However, not too long after the play's debut, news of Wilde's homosexuality was leaked to the conservative Victorian public by the father of his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas.

Wilde was arrested and sentenced to two years hard labor for gross indecency with men.  He died in poverty of cerebral meningitis in Paris five years later at the age of 46.

Other notable works by Wilde include the novel "The Picture of Dorian Grey," "Vera," "Salome" and "The Ballad of Reading Gaol."
The reading by the Santa Monica Rep is free to the public and open to all ages.

Due to the lack of any break in the play, no seating will take place after the start of the performance.

Santa Monica Rep was founded by Sarah Gurfield, Jen Bloom and Eric Bloom.  After moving to Santa Monica in 2009, the Blooms joined Gurfield, a Santa Monica native, and decided to continue exploring their unique brand of storytelling and community building as a Westside team.

They have performed several popular one-time-only readings at the Santa Monica Public Library, as well as sold-out runs of "The Tempest," "Proof," "How I Learned to Drive," "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)," "The Solo Series" and "The Memorandum" at theaters throughout Santa Monica and the west side. 

For more information on the company, visit www.santamonicarep.org.

For more information on Santa Monica Public Library programs, visit smpl.org or contact the Santa Monica Public Library at (310) 458-8600.