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Notes about Notes (or, Funding 'the Funds')

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There are a few references to money in The Importance of Being Earnest , usually regarding whether or not one has some, generally followed by a clever quip. (Are 'food' and 'money' the 'death' and 'taxes' of Earnest /Oscar Wilde? Hmm.) Let's see if we can bring in a little clarity. Cecily Cardew's fortune is valued at '130,000 pounds in the funds.' The Funds were another name for the British national debt. When investors put their money 'in the funds' (or invested it in government stocks which paid against the national debt) they were guaranteed an annual return from the government of 3-5% (which led to the nicknames 'the three-percenters' and 'the five-percenters'). It was an extremely stable investment, and therefore very popular. People could have made more putting their money in other stocks, investment schemes, or even banks, but nothing else was as secure on the return as the funds. This means that Ceci...
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The Importance of 'The Importance of Being Earnest'

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London, 1895. Valentine's Day, surprisingly chilly. (Fog, likely - this IS London.) The empire flourishes under the reign of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria (her accomplishments as related to her gender are the exception, not the rule, as she's one of the first to remind you). Theatre has become a haven for the masses, with commoners on benches down in the house and the titled upper classes in box seats above. A new play is on offer tonight, and seems promising. The playwright has been making quite a name for himself - this is his fourth new work in the past three years, with the third enjoying a month-long run at another theater just down the street. He's very clever, the author, though there are rumors of scandalous behaviors that crop up now and then. Surely nothing with which respectable denizens of the city should concern themselves. The audience has settled, and the lights are dimmed at last. The curtain rises on Oscar Wilde's newest work, The Importance of Bein...
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Lady Bracknell - So Important She Has Her Own Time Zone

Dear Cast of The Importance of Being Earnest , I hope you're proud of yourselves. I really do, because I TOTALLY AM! It's like you've solved the mystery of the pyramids! Only not, since this is only a 120-year-old play, and those have been around for millennia. But you did DISCOVER a mystery that no one else seems to have noticed in over a century! Although I guess it's not really that mysterious. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME AND YOU BROKE MY BRAIN. (But I'm fine now.) So the first question I got from y'all was about that weird little timeline issue in the first act where Lady Bracknell gets all up in Jack's bid'ness (does anybody still say that anymore? No? OK then) and then storms out with a frosty 'Good morning!' even though it's actually somewhere between 5:30 and 'nearly seven' in the evening. I was pretty excited - these nit-picky little research questions are MY bread and butter (bless you, Gwe...
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