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 Scene from the play's opening run The Importance of Being Earnest is a drawing-room comedy by Oscar Wilde. Premiered on 14 February 1895 in London, it depicts the affairs of two young men about town who lead double lives to evade unwanted social obligations, both assuming the name Ernest to woo two young women. Other characters are the formidable Lady Bracknell, the fussy governess Miss Prism and the benign and scholarly Canon Chasuble. The play, celebrated for its wit and repartee, parodies contemporary dramatic norms and comically satirises late-Victorian manners. The triumphant opening night was followed within weeks by Wilde's downfall and imprisonment for homosexual acts and the closure of the production, and Wilde wrote no more comic or dramatic works. From the early 20th century onwards, the play has been revived frequently and adapted for radio, television, film, operas and musicals. (Full article...)
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November 24
Commons picture of the day  The Scroll of Eighty-Seven Immortals, drawn by an unknown painter, measuring 30cm high and 292cm wide, is a line-drawing Chinese figure painting. Drawn on a long silk scroll with lines, the painting depicts 87 taoist immortals, including three supreme gods with halo, ten divine generals, seven deities and 67 celestial maidens marching from the right to the left on the bridge. The painting manifests the momentum of the glorious age of Tang Dynasty and was regarded by Xu Beihong as a work of Wu Daozi. Xie Zhiliu ang Chang Dai-chien thought that the painting style of the scroll was simlilar to that in Dung Huang frescoes of later Tang Dynasty and attributed it to Later Tang Dynasty (923–937), while a noted painting and calligraphy connoisseur, Xu Bangda, thought it should be drawn by a Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) painter.
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