Routledge rouses Wilde comedy

This production began in Chichester in May '99. We transferred to the Royal, Haymarket in August '99 on the Queen Mother's 99th birthday.

She came that night and brought her two daughters. That was very exciting - as though we didn't have enough on our hands on the first night!

We played for four months - and when an invitation came to go to Australia and New Zealand, I accepted. We went out last June and played for four months in Perth, Melbourne and Auckland, ending up in Sydney. We played to packed houses - 1,800 a night in one theatre, 1,400 in another. Thrilling - I'll never forget it.

Two English boys, Alistair Petrie and Theo Fraser Steele (as Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff), were new to the production, the rest of the cast were Australian, apart from a single New Zealander. Now we've kidnapped four of them and brought them back.

The Importance Of Being Earnest is the happiest play to live with. And I'm very proud to be part of this production. Of course, I was frightened to death at the prospect of playing Lady Bracknell - I've been turning the part down for 20 years. Finally I was grabbed by the scruff of the neck by director Christopher Morahan, and here it is - with knobs on.

I suppose I always knew that I would have to face my destiny one day. But this time the management is right and I knew Christopher would cast well and honour the play because the text is everything in a comedy of manners. We try to tell the story with as much style and point as possible.