The opening scene takes place in the decadent home of Algernon (Algy) Moncrieff played by Dillon Ford. Surrounded by the audience, the living room of Algy consists of a couch, a coffee table with a beautiful feather centerpiece, a lounge chair, fireplace, and a butler’s station. Ford takes the play full force with a comical monologue in which he shows his unending love for cucumber sandwiches whilst carrying on with his delightful British accent.

Then enters the dominant character, Ernest Worthing played by Trevor Callarman. Ernest had lost a cigarette case a while before their meeting. Algy reveals that he actually had it. The concern shows on Callarman’s face very bluntly. There is an inscription that says, “From little Cecily, with her fondest love to her dear Uncle Jack.” which Agly reads out to him. Algy demands why this message is to a man named Jack. Ernest must then disclose the terrible secret of his true name. He took on the prestigious name of Ernest in the city so that he can have a social life, but where he lives in the country with his ward, Cecily Cardew, he takes his true name, Jack. Ford and Callarman then battle it out for the cigarette case. The very amusing back and forth between the two shows the love-hate relationship of the two buddies. Finally in possession of the cigarette case, Jack makes Algy swear to keep the secret still a secret so that the love of his life, Gwendolen, Algy’s cousin, will still love him.

Gwendolen (Sophie Smith) and Lady Bracknell (Mary Eastham) enter with power, overtaking the scene. The dominant woman figure of Lady Bracknell is represented perfectly by Eastham. As soon as Gwendolen enters the room, Ernest/Jack immediately perks up as if Cupid just shot him with an arrow. The couple doting upon each other the whole time is represented perfectly by Callarman and Smith as if they are in love in real life. As soon as Algy and Bracknell leave the room, Jack immediately begins to set up his proposal. Gwendolen obviously accepts and then goes on about how excited she is to be engaged to a man named Ernest and that she would never want to be with anyone else. The nervousness washes over Callarman’s face in fear that his sweetheart with not love him back once she finds out about Jack.

Once Bracknell returns, Ernest/Jack tries to convince her to allow Gwendolen to marry him. She instantaneously denies him when she finds out that his parents are not actually his birth parents and that he was found in a railway station in a handbag. Completely disgusted at the fact, Lady Bracknell forces Gwendolen and herself to leave, making a dramatic exit, ending the first act.