HEARTBREAK Productions introduce Oscar Wilde's Victorian comedy of manners, The Importance Of Being Earnest, to the volatile world of July 1939 in the walled garden of Nunnington Hall, Nunnington, near York, tomorrow evening.

The Leamington Spa company invites the outdoor audience to "knock back a couple of cocktails and exchange banter with these outrageous characters caught up in their bubble of frivolity, blissfully unaware of the world-wide horrors about to unfold".

Director Maddy Kerr says: "Wilde exposes the hypocrisy and duplicity of society's muddled values, making fun of the absurdities and excesses of the elite of Victorian London society. Questions abound: is Earnest a name or a characteristic? Is marriage a financial arrangement for business or is it for pleasure? Should we trivialise the serious and solemnise the trivial? And should we all develop alter egos to escape the confines of a moral code we find claustrophobic?"

One more question, Maddy: why move Wilde's play to 1939?

"Our production will attempt to answer some of the above questions by exploring whether the values expressed by the characters of 1895 stand in a time of impending disaster and world-changing experiences," she replies.

Gates open at 6pm for tomorrow's 7pm performance. Please bring picnics and chairs or rugs, and try to book in advance on 01439 748283. Tickets: £13, children under 17 £6.50; on the door £1 extra.

The same times and prices will apply when Heartbreak Productions return to Nunnington Hall on August 12 with Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Updated: 16:41 Thursday, July 28, 2005