The Importance of Being Earnest

Purchase Tickets Here

Friday, August 26, 2022 5pm – 6.30pm

Saturday, August 27, 2022 2pm – 3.30pm

Sunday, August 28, 2022 2pm – 3.30pm

At Greenwood Centre for Living History, 254 Rue Main, Hudson, QC J0P 1H0, Canada

Or IN-PERSON at Greenwood (254 Main) and at Que de Bonnes Choses (484-B Main, Hudson). We ask that IN-PERSON tickets be purchased with cash and only during opening hours, no reservations please.

The Hudson Player’s Club renews a time-honoured tradition at Greenwood with a dramatical reading of the fabulous Oscar Wilde play: The Importance of Being Earnest.

Join us in an intimate garden setting as a delightful troop of gifted actors stage this witty satire set in Victorian England. What better backdrop than the gorgeous Greenwood gardens and tranquil Ottawa River to stage this play whom some consider as Wilde’s greatest dramatic achievement.

The production will be a staged reading, presented on the lawn at Greenwood (as a fundraiser for them) for three shows:
Friday 26th August @ 5pm, Saturday 27th August @ 2pm, and Sunday 28th August @ 2pm.

254 Rue Main, Hudson, QC J0P 1H0

Oscar Wilde’s madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have made it a mainstay of the high school curriculum for decades.

Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gwendolen as Ernest while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heart of Jack’s ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jack’s country home on the same weekend the “rivals” to fight for Ernest’s undivided attention and the “Ernests” to claim their beloveds pandemonium breaks loose. Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!

Simon Cote directs this rehearsed reading so that the audience can appreciate Wilde’s wry wit and elaborate plot twists.

Lady Bracknell	Susan Gilmore Lombard
Jack Worthing	Andrew McLennan
Algernon Moncrieff	James Berryman
Cecily Cardew	McKenna Hayden
Gwendolen Fairfax	Carly Wagschal
Miss Prism	Heather Hanks-Côté
Dr. Chasuble	Peter Williamson
Merriman	David Fisher

Directed by Simon Cote

Simon Cote Simon is a local actor, singer and sometime director, he’s been on stage with Hudson Players Club (Balconville, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Jack of Diamonds, Macbeth), Hudson Music Club (The Drowsy Chaperone, Oklahoma!), Lakeshore Light Opera (Iolanthe, The Pirates of Penzance) and others. He’s delighted with the opportunity to bring this witty, breezy, incisive and fun play to the audience at Greenwood and grateful to the lovely Heather Hanks-Côté, Hudson Players Club, Greenwood and the wonderful cast and crew, for their support, enthusiasm and hard work.

Stage Manager Shelley Walters

Susan Gilmore

plays Lady Bracknell

Peter Williamson

plays Rev. Canon Chasuble

Andrew McLennan

plays Jack Worthing

James Berryman

plays Algernon Moncrieff

Playing a most threatening spider to Little Miss Muffet on her tuffet at the age of six was the beginning of Susan’s love of all things theatrical. Selected theatre credits include Lysistrata in Lysistrata (Hudson Players Club), Maddy Rooney in the Samuel Beckett radio play All That Fall, and, most recently, five characters in Phoebe’s Gift (Theatre Panache). She also appeared in the Hudson Village Theatre Panto Robin Hood, and in the Global Bloomsday reading of Ulysses, an international project coordinated by the James Joyce Centre in Dublin She delighted to play Lady Bracknell in this wonderful play

Peter joined Hudson Players Club in 1967 and hasn’t regretted a moment of it. Having done some very interesting stuff over the years (interesting to him, at least), Peter is very happy to present his interpretation of Rev. Canon Chasuble. Having what one might consider an eye for Miss Prism, the Reverend represents an interesting dilemma for a man of the cloth. As always, thanks to the entire production team for getting the show into Greenwood. Pax vobiscum.

Performing close to two decades, Andrew is happy to be back at it after a long hiatus. Previous shows in community theatre include, but not limited to: Once Upon a Mattress, Drowsy Chaperone, The Miracle Worker, and Tartuffe. Andrew is grateful to be working with the Hudson Players and hopes that you enjoy the show.

Fresh off the Merry Wives of Windsor technical high, James is thrilled to face a new challenge as Algernon.
Having acted in community theater on and off for the past 15 years, James has appeared in show such as Lakeshore Player’s productions of Picasso at the Lapin Agile, And then There Were None, The Butler did it and more recently with the Hudson Players, Snow White, For the Love of Shakespeare and Treasure Island.

McKenna Hayden

plays Cecily Cardew

Caroline Wagschal

plays Gwendolen Farfax

Heather Hanks-Côté

plays Miss Prism

David Fisher

plays Merriman

McKenna Hayden is thrilled and grateful to be involved with the production of The Importance of Being Earnest. McKenna has always loved the theater and has been performing since she was a young child. Her first production with the Hudson Players Club was with the Hudson Village Theater’s annual Pantomime. McKenna has performed in 10 Pantos; Red Riding Hood, Aladdin, Goldilocks, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Robin Hood, Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Camelot and Treasure Island and 5 Shakespeare by the Lakes; Midsummer Night’s Dream, For the Love of Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, For the Love of Shakespeare, Macbeth and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Heather Côté is thorough enjoying playing Miss Prism. She has been acting and singing for many years with Lakeshore Light Opera in both chorus and Principle roles, notably; ” The Gondoliers, Ruddigore and Iolanthe.” She has also sung in 2 shows with Coracole productions. She is thrilled to be part of Hudson players with such an excellent and friendly cast of performers. This is her first foray into garden performances and is absolutely loving it!!! Congrats to everyone!

Celebrating his 45th year in (and out) of theatre, David is a veteran stage performer, well-known to Hudson Players audiences. He was seen most recently gleefully returning to treading the boards (or gravel, as it were) in the lovely classic comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor, playing the part of Falstaff’s henchman Pistol. “Mom always warned me I was headed for a life of crime. I am sure she had hoped for a higher class of thug, though.” Now he plays Merriman in The Importance of Being Earnest.