Vancouver Classical Plays/Novels

🎭 Comedy Night: Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (Script‑in‑Hand, No Homework)
A fast, funny night with Oscar Wilde’s sharpest comedy—still savage in 2025.
No homework • Printed scene packets • Shy‑first friendly

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Description
Victorian? Yes. Dusty? Not even close. The Importance of Being Earnest is a meme machine about double lives 👥, fake fiancés 💍🕵️, and the art of saying the clever thing at the worst time. We’ll bring printed scene packets so you can cold‑read (if you want) or just sit back and enjoy. Then we’ll unpack why it still lands today—dating profiles, alter egos, performative “earnestness”, and that infamous handbag 👜.

What we’ll do (75–90 min)

• 2‑minute primer: who’s who, what’s at stake.
• Script‑in‑hand reads (30 min): volunteers read 3 of the funniest scenes. 😂
• Guided discussion (25–30 min): truth vs. performance ⚖️, identity games , why Wilde still kills .
• ✍️ Mini‑activity (10 min): rewrite one Wilde zinger as a 2025 text/DM 💬.
• Wrap (5 min): share one line you’ll steal this week

Good for
First‑timers, shy readers, and anyone who wants a smart laugh without homework. Newcomers welcome.

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Details ✍️

• 🗓️ When: Sun [11:00 AM–1 PM]
• 📍 Where: VPL Central – L4 North (492) Meeting Room
• 🎟️ Capacity: Cap 12 + waitlist
• Bring: nothing—scripts & prompts provided

Tonight’s flow: 🎭 reads → 🗣️ chat → ✍️ remix → ✨ one takeaway

Details:

📚 The Great Tolstoy Mission: War & Peace — Session 2 (Volume I)
No homework needed (we’ll recap). Any translation works.

📍 Vancouver Central Library — Room 690, 6th floor
(350 W Georgia St; from elevators go left, then far right corner)
🗓️ Sunday October 5th, 11 AM
Hosted by: Vancouver Classics Plays / Novels

### Why the change

To keep everyone literally on the same page, we’re standardizing to one Volume per meetup. For Session 2, we’ll cover Volume I end‑to‑end. If you only finished part of it—come anyway. We’ll start with a quick scene map and you can jump right in.

### Session 2 Reading Assignment

War & Peace — Volume I

> (That’s Parts/Books 1–3 in most editions.)

Anchor moments you’ll recognize

• Anna Pavlovna’s St. Petersburg salon (introductions & politics)
• The Rostovs in Moscow (family warmth; Natasha’s first sparkle)
• Pierre & Andrei (friends with opposite moods)
• Austerlitz and Andrei’s “lofty sky” moment

### What to expect

• Meet (or revisit) the cast and how Tolstoy sets up fate, history, agency, meaning
• Salon talk vs. battlefield reality—what surprised you most?
• Tolstoy’s craft: how short chapters + quick POV shifts make crowds feel real

Bring: your copy (optional), a question or favorite detail, and your first impressions—whether you finished the volume or sampled it. Newcomers welcome.

### Translation map (we’ll keep this in every post)

• Vol I = Parts/Books 1–3
• Vol II = Parts/Books 4–8
• Vol III = Parts/Books 9–11
• Vol IV = Parts/Books 12–15
• Epilogue = Part 1 & Part 2

### Series plan (so you can calendar it)

• Session 2 (this post): Volume I
• Session 3: Volume II (next month)
• Session 4: Volume III (November)
• Session 5: Volume IV (December)
• (Optional bonus in January: Epilogue)

📩 RSVP to confirm your seat. Message me if you want a short recap or reading guide ahead of time.(also I have free pdf versions of the book if you want)

Let’s climb this mountain one Volume at a time.