Fiona Button, Pippa Nixon And Stella Gonet Join The Cast Of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Classic Spring is delighted to announce that Fiona Button, Pippa Nixon and Stella Gonet will join the cast of Michael Fentiman's The Importance of Being Earnest.

Fiona Button plays Cecily Cardew. Fiona recently starred as Rose Defoe in the hit BBC drama The Split, and her other credits for the BBC include Outcasts and Lip Service. She starred as Annabella in Michael Longhurst's acclaimed production of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, and as Wendy in the RSC's smash hit Wendy and Peter Pan.

Pippa Nixon plays Gwendolyn Fairfax. Pippa was one of the leading lights of the RSC from 2011 to 2014, eliciting rave reviews for her performances as Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Bastard in King John and Rosalind in As You Like It. She has subsequently starred as Ariel in The Tempest at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, and in Sunset at the Villa Thalia at the National Theatre.

Stella Gonet plays Miss Prism. Stella made her name as Beatrice Eliott in the BBC's much-loved 1920s costume drama, The House of Eliott. She recently starred as Margaret Thatcher in Moira Buffini's sell-out hit Handbagged at The Hampstead Theatre and in the West End, and her other stage credits include Ophelia opposite Daniel Day Lewis' Hamlet at the National Theatre.

These three extraordinary actresses join Sophie Thompson as Lady Bracknell and Jeremy Swift as Revered Chasuble, as previously announced. Sinead Matthews has unfortunately had to step down from the company due to an unavoidable scheduling clash.

The Importance of Being Earnest is the last in a year-long series of productions at the Vaudeville Theatre celebrating the brilliant and radical wit of Oscar Wilde. The season opened with Dominic Dromgoole's production of A Woman of No Importance, starring Eve Best and Anne Reid. Lady Windermere's Fan, starring Kevin Bishop, Samantha Spiro and Jennifer Saunders and directed by Kathy Burke, was followed by An Ideal Husband, starring Freddie and Edward Fox (running until 14 July).

Other events have included a lecture from the inimitable Stephen Fry, a critically-acclaimed performance of De Profundis by Simon Callow (adapted by Frank McGuinness), which is set to return later this year, a new musical version of The Selfish Giant by Guy Chambers, and the family show Wilde Creatures from theatre company Tall Stories.

Since the season began, the productions have been seen by over 120,000 people at the Vaudeville, including huge family audiences for The Selfish Giant and Wilde Creatures, and 110,000 more on cinema screens nationally and internationally.

Over 20,000 tickets under £20 have been made available across the season, encouraging younger and more diverse audiences to experience Wilde in the West End, many for the very first time.

Book tickets here!

To post a comment, you must register and login.