"The Importance of Being Earnest," presented last night by the Radcliffe Idler, is Oscar Wilde at his witty and fantastic best. Based on a trivial pun, the play is, nevertheless, almost perfection of its kind. The present production, sympathetically directed by Mrs. Mark de Wolfe Howe, shows that for all its fifty years, it is still excellent entertainment.

When Wilde's plays first appeared on the London stage they were called and it is no wonder--the "greatest comedies since Congreve." After the Victorian theatre, with its platitudinous melodramas and sentimental farces, Wilde's comedies of manners, brilliant and epigrammatic, with a high polish of artificiality, constituted a revival so sudden that it seemed an innovation.

Oscar Wilde was the epitome of the fin de siecle spirit and "The Importance of Being Earnest," first produced in 1895, is the epitome of Oscar Wilde. The pose of jaded cynicism and brittle sophistication thinly covers a high-spirited appreciation of the comic, and his wit, compounded of epigrammatic form and paradoxical and unconventional sentiments is, if less "shocking" today, still distinctive and sparkling.

There is some truth in Bernard Shaw's contention that it seems "a farcical comedy of the seventies, not performed at the time, because it was too witty and too decent," but it has, too, a strong kinship with the insincere and trivial, but highly amusing, social comedies of the Restoration. Altogether, it is a genial, if shallow exposition of Wilde's philosophy, a philosophy in which literature is governed by style and not ideas, and life by taste rather than ideals.

The Idler's production has managed, despite certain technical limitations, to capture admirably the pervading spirit of the play. Algernon, the most difficult and yet most rewarding role, was happily cast in Carleton C. Brower, whose languid voice and expressive features lent excellent emphasis to Wilde's epigrams; while Cathleen O'Conor was exquisitely amusing as the sharp-tongued, lofty Lady Bracknell. Other notable performances were John Jay Hughes' harried Worthing, Elaine Limpert's highly decorous Miss Prism, and Seabury Quinn's limp and sanctimonious Canon Chasuble. Anna A. Prince, Jr. was, despite a certain tendency toward overplaying, a charming and decorative Gwendolen, while Jane D. Philbin as Cecily was sufficiently wide-eyed and innocent.

Lynn Baker's costumes and David Pike's settings showed considerable taste and imagination in utilizing somewhat limited materials, and the physical production was, in general, smooth and workmanlike.

Considering the notable disappointments on the professional stage, the Idler's ambitious and accomplished production of one of the greatest of modern comedies must be reckoned by any standards as one of this season's most worthwhile and entertaining events.