OSCAR Wilde’s wit was nothing if not complex and therefore it’s little wonder that the writer’s cerebral dexterity was perfectly suited to devising impossibly tortuous entanglements.


This is probably his best-loved play, familiar to generations of theatregoers and exam-taking schoolchildren alike.


So there’s all the more reason to sing the praises of Malvern-based theatre company Middle Ground, which has not only breathed new life into this evergreen piece, but also assembled a cast that reads like a contemporary television Who’s Who.


Corrinne Wicks from Emmerdale makes a welcome return to Malvern in the form of Gwendolen, deftly deflecting the advances of Jack Worthing, played with a superbly clipped intensity by Tom Butcher, late of The Bill and Doctors.


Not to be outdone, fellow soap refugees Sarah Thomas, Jim Alexander, David Gooderson, Gerry Hinks, Sapphire Elia and Diane Fletcher also effortlessly cruise through this glorious slice of Edwardiana where life appears to be one endless round of society high teas and rapier-like interjections.


And when you inject all this talent into Wilde’s most celebrated conundrum, the absurdity of upper class obsessions with propriety and affectation – not to say the mass obsession with the E-word – then the result is a given.


Wicks and Butcher delighted Worcestershire audiences last year with Middle Ground’s production of The Holly and the Ivy, and the company consolidated that success with this year’s On Golden Pond.


The Importance of Being Earnest runs until Saturday. Not to be missed.