First performed in 1895, Oscar Wilde’s fleet drawing-room farce endures in part because it can bend to whatever the audience or era is looking to get out of it: a straightforward comedy of manners; queer-coded camp classic; Victorian Catfish; anticipator of snark and social media exhaustion (“I am sick to death of cleverness. … The thing has become an absolute public nuisance”). Whatever the spin, it’s a reliably funny romp about two men living double lives to avoid responsibility, then trying to back out of dead-ends of their own making in pursuit of love. A reception follows Friday’s opening night performance, or celebrate Pride Night at the following Friday night performance. – Kimberley Jones
Through Oct. 19