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The main contemporary accounts relating to Krak des Chevaliers are of Muslim origin and tend to emphasize Muslim success while overlooking setbacks against the Crusaders although they suggest that the Knights Hospitaller forced the settlements of Hama and Homs to pay tribute to the Order . This situation lasted as lon... |
In the 1250s , the fortunes of the Hospitallers at Krak des Chevaliers took a turn for the worse . A Muslim army estimated to number 10 @,@ 000 men ravaged the countryside around the castle in 1252 after which the Order 's finances declined sharply . In 1268 Master Hugh Revel complained that the area , previously home... |
Baibars ventured into the area around Krak des Chevaliers in 1270 and allowed his men to graze their animals on the fields around the castle . When he received news that year of the Eighth Crusade led by King Louis IX of France , Baibars left for Cairo to avoid a confrontation . After Louis died in 1271 Baibars return... |
Rain interrupted the siege , but on 21 March , immediately south of Krak des Chevaliers , Baibar 's forces captured a triangular outwork possibly defended by a timber palisade . On 29 March , the attackers undermined a tower in the southwest corner causing it to collapse whereupon Baibars ' army attacked through the b... |
= = Later history = =
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After the Franks were driven from the Holy Land in 1291 , European familiarity with the castles of the Crusades declined . It was not until the 19th century that interest in these buildings was renewed , so there are no detailed plans from before 1837 . Guillaume Rey was the first European researcher to scientifically... |
Paul Deschamps visited the castle in February 1927 . Since Rey had visited in the 19th century a village of 500 people had been established within the castle . Renewed inhabitation had damaged the site : underground vaults had been used as rubbish tips and in some places the battlements had been destroyed . Deschamps ... |
As early as 1929 there were suggestions that the castle should be taken under French control . On 16 November 1933 Krak des Chevaliers was given into the control of the French state , and cared for by the Académie des Beaux @-@ Arts . The villagers were moved and paid F1 million between them in compensation . Over the... |
Several of the castle 's former residents built their houses outside the fortress and a village called al @-@ Husn has since developed . Many of the al @-@ Husn 's roughly 9 @,@ 000 Muslim residents benefit economically from the tourism generated by the site .
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= = = Syrian Civil War = = =
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During the Syrian Civil War which began in 2011 , UNESCO voiced concerns that the war might lead to the damage of important cultural sites such as Krak des Chevaliers . It has been reported that the castle was shelled in August 2012 by the Syrian Arab Army , and the Crusader chapel has been damaged . The castle was re... |
= = Architecture = =
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Writing in the early 20th century , T. E. Lawrence , popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia , remarked that Krak des Chevaliers was " perhaps the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world , [ a castle which ] forms a fitting commentary on any account of the Crusading buildings of Syria " . Castles in... |
Krak des Chevaliers can be classified both as a spur castle , due to its site , and after the 13th @-@ century expansion a fully developed concentric castle . It was similar in size and layout to Vadum Jacob , a Crusader castle built in the late 1170s . Margat has also been cited as Krak des Chevaliers ' sister castle... |
= = = Inner ward = = =
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Between 1142 and 1170 the Knights Hospitaller undertook a building programme on the site . The castle was defended by a stone curtain wall studded with square towers which projected slightly . The main entrance was between two towers on the eastern side , and there was a postern gate in the northwest tower . At the ce... |
When Krak des Chevaliers was remodelled in the 13th century , new walls surrounding the inner court were built . They followed the earlier walls , with a narrow gap between them in the west and south which was turned into a gallery from which defenders could unleash missiles . In this area , the walls were supported b... |
At the north end of the small courtyard is a chapel and at the southern end is an esplanade . The esplanade is raised above the rest of the courtyard ; the vaulted area beneath it would have provided storage and could have acted as stabling and shelter from missiles . Lining the west of the courtyard is the hall of th... |
= = = Chapel = = =
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The current chapel was probably built to replace the one destroyed by an earthquake in 1170 . Only the east end of the original chapel , which housed the apse , and a small part of the south wall survive from the original chapel . The later chapel had a barrel vault and an uncomplicated apse ; its design would have be... |
= = = Outer ward = = =
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The second phase of building work undertaken by the Hospitallers began in the early 13th century and lasted decades . The outer walls were built in the last major construction on the site , lending the Krak des Chevaliers its current appearance . Standing 9 metres ( 30 ft ) high , the outer circuit had towers that pro... |
Arrow slits in the walls and towers were distributed to minimize the amount of dead ground around the castle . Machicolations crowned the walls , offering defenders a way to hurl projectiles towards enemies at the foot of the wall . They were so cramped archers would have had to crouch inside them . The box machicolat... |
When the outer walls were built in the 13th century the main entrance was enhanced . A vaulted corridor led uphill from the outer gate in the northeast . The corridor made a hairpin turn halfway along its length , making it an example of a bent entrance . Bent entrances were a Byzantine innovation , but that at Krak d... |
= = = Frescoes = = =
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Despite its predominantly military character , the castle is one of the few sites where Crusader art ( in the form of frescoes ) has been preserved . In 1935 , 1955 , and 1978 medieval frescoes were discovered within Krak des Chevaliers after later plaster and white @-@ wash had decayed . The frescos were painted on t... |
= The Importance of Being Earnest =
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The Importance of Being Earnest , A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde . First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James 's Theatre in London , it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ to escape burdensome social obligations . Working within the social c... |
The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde 's career but also heralded his downfall . The Marquess of Queensberry , whose son Lord Alfred Douglas was Wilde 's lover , planned to present the writer with a bouquet of rotten vegetables and disrupt the show . Wilde was tipped off and Queensberry was refused a... |
The Importance of Being Earnest has been revived many times since its premiere . It has been adapted for the cinema on three occasions . In The Importance of Being Earnest ( 1952 ) , Dame Edith Evans reprised her celebrated interpretation of Lady Bracknell ; The Importance of Being Earnest ( 1992 ) by Kurt Baker used ... |
= = Composition = =
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After the success of Wilde 's plays Lady Windermere 's Fan and A Woman of No Importance , Wilde 's producers urged him to write further plays . In July 1894 he mooted his idea for The Importance of Being Earnest to George Alexander , the actor @-@ manager of the St James 's Theatre . Wilde spent the summer with his fa... |
Wilde continually revised the text over the next months : no line was left untouched , and " in a play so economical with its language and effects , [ the revisions ] had serious consequences " . Sos Eltis describes Wilde 's revisions as a refined art at work : the earliest , longest handwritten drafts of the play lab... |
Wilde hesitated about submitting the script to Alexander , worrying that it might be unsuitable for the St James 's Theatre , whose typical repertoire was relatively serious , and explaining that it had been written in response to a request for a play " with no real serious interest " . When Henry James 's Guy Domvill... |
= = Productions = =
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= = = Premiere = = =
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The play was first produced at the St James 's Theatre on Valentine 's Day 1895 . It was freezing cold but Wilde arrived dressed in " florid sobriety " , wearing a green carnation . The audience , according to one report , " included many members of the great and good , former cabinet ministers and privy councillors ,... |
The cast was :
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John Worthing , J.P. — George Alexander
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Algernon Moncrieff — Allan Aynesworth
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Rev. Canon Chasuble , D.D. — H. H. Vincent
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Merriman — Frank Dyall
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Lane — F. Kinsey Peile
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Lady Bracknell — Rose Leclercq
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Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax — Irene Vanbrugh
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Cecily Cardew — Evelyn Millard
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Miss Prism — Mrs. George Canninge
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The Marquess of Queensberry , the father of Wilde 's lover Lord Alfred Douglas ( who was on holiday in Algiers at the time ) , had planned to disrupt the play by throwing a bouquet of rotten vegetables at the playwright when he took his bow at the end of the show . Wilde and Alexander learned of the plan , and the lat... |
The play 's original Broadway production opened at the Empire Theatre on 22 April 1895 , but closed after sixteen performances . Its cast included William Faversham as Algy , Henry Miller as Jack , Viola Allen as Gwendolen , and Ida Vernon as Lady Bracknell . The Australian premiere was in Melbourne on 10 August 1895 ... |
= = = Critical reception = = =
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In contrast to much theatre of the time , The Importance of Being Earnest 's light plot does not tackle serious social and political issues , something of which contemporary reviewers were wary . Though unsure of Wilde 's seriousness as a dramatist , they recognised the play 's cleverness , humour and popularity with ... |
In The Speaker , A. B. Walkley admired the play and was one of few to see it as the culmination of Wilde 's dramatic career . He denied the term " farce " was derogatory , or even lacking in seriousness , and said " It is of nonsense all compact , and better nonsense , I think , our stage has not seen . " H. G. Wells ... |
The Importance of Being Earnest is Wilde 's most popular work and is continually revived . Max Beerbohm called the play Wilde 's " finest , most undeniably his own " , saying that in his other comedies — Lady Windermere 's Fan , A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband — the plot , following the manner of Victori... |
= = = Revivals = = =
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Until after Wilde 's death in 1900 his name remained disgraced , and few discussed , let alone performed , his work in Britain . Alexander revived The Importance in a small theatre in Notting Hill , outside the West End , in 1901 ; in the same year he presented the piece on tour , playing Jack Worthing with a cast inc... |
A collected edition of Wilde 's works , published in 1908 and edited by Robert Ross , helped to restore his reputation as an author . Alexander presented another revival of The Importance at the St James 's in 1909 , when he and Aynesworth reprised their original roles ; the revival ran for 316 performances . Max Beer... |
For a 1913 revival at the same theatre the young actors Gerald Ames and A. E. Matthews succeeded the creators as Jack and Algy . John Deverell as Jack and Margaret Scudamore as Lady Bracknell headed the cast in a 1923 production at the Haymarket Theatre . Many revivals in the first decades of the 20th century treated ... |
In Sir Nigel Playfair 's 1930 production at the Lyric , Hammersmith , John Gielgud played Jack to the Lady Bracknell of his aunt , Mabel Terry @-@ Lewis . Gielgud produced and starred in a production at the Globe ( now the Gielgud ) Theatre in 1939 , in a cast that included Edith Evans as Lady Bracknell , Joyce Carey ... |
As Wilde 's work came to be read and performed again , it was The Importance of Being Earnest that received the most productions . By the time of its centenary the journalist Mark Lawson described it as " the second most known and quoted play in English after Hamlet . "
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For Sir Peter Hall 's 1982 production at the National Theatre the cast included Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell , Martin Jarvis as Jack , Nigel Havers as Algy , Zoë Wanamaker as Gwendolen and Anna Massey as Miss Prism . Nicholas Hytner 's 1993 production at the Aldwych Theatre , starring Maggie Smith , had occasional ref... |
In 2005 the Abbey Theatre , Dublin , produced the play with an all @-@ male cast ; it also featured Wilde as a character — the play opens with him drinking in a Parisian café , dreaming of his play . The Melbourne Theatre Company staged a production in December 2011 with Geoffrey Rush as Lady Bracknell .
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In 2011 the Roundabout Theatre Company produced a Broadway revival based on the 2009 Stratford Shakespeare Festival production featuring Brian Bedford as director and as Lady Bracknell . It opened at the American Airlines Theatre on 13 January and ran until 3 July 2011 . The cast also included Dana Ivey as Miss Prism ... |
The play was also presented internationally , in Singapore , in October 2004 , by the British Theatre Playhouse , and the same company brought it to London 's Greenwich Theatre in April 2005 .
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= = Synopsis = =
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The play is set in " The Present " ( i.e. 1895 ) .
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= = = Act I = = =
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Algernon Moncrieff 's flat in Half Moon Street , W
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The play opens with Algernon Moncrieff , an idle young gentleman , receiving his best friend , John Worthing , whom he knows as Ernest . Ernest has come from the country to propose to Algernon 's cousin , Gwendolen Fairfax . Algernon , however , refuses his consent until Ernest explains why his cigarette case bears th... |
Gwendolen and her formidable mother Lady Bracknell now call on Algernon who distracts Lady Bracknell in another room while Jack proposes to Gwendolen . She accepts , but seems to love him very largely for his professed name of Ernest . Jack accordingly resolves to himself to be rechristened " Ernest " . Discovering th... |
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