OSCAR Wilde relished controversy, debunking social pretentions and, you may say, pointing the finger at his peers’ glaring hypocrisy.

The Importance of Being Earnest, with its mordant observations beautifully delivered by Wilde’s mouth-pieces, to this day rings true although the matters of etiquette, rank and propriety are firmly behind us.

But seeing the play for a third time, I wondered whether it still had anything new to offer.

After all you can only laugh so many times at Lady Bracknell’s utter lack of self-awareness, Algernon’s rude scoffing of food or Jack Worthing’s hapless effort to ‘kill’ his imaginary brother.

Casting David Suchet as Lady Bracknell of course was a major pull. But was a gimmick enough to reinvent Wilde for a 21st century audience?

The answer before I go any further is yes, yes and yes.

But now for the story: as the play opens Ernest Worthing confesses to his friend, the irresistible dandy Algernon Moncrieff, he has been leading a double life, pretending to be Ernest in town when he lives as Jack, his real name, in the country.

Ernest is only the brother he has invented to indulge in a licentious life in the capital. Back in the country he is guardian to Cecily Cardew.

He proposes to society butterfly Gwendolen Fairfax but her mother Lady Bracknell is categorically opposed to the match after discovering that Jack’s origins are unknown. He was discovered as an infant in a bag at Victoria Station with no clue as to his lineage.

Meanwhile Algernon scampers off the country posing as Ernest, Jack’s wicked brother, in a bid to seduce his ward Cecily.

The gallants must soon grapple with the riotous consequences of their deceptions.

Matronly, coquettish and belligerently ignorant in turn David Suchet reinvigorated a role performed to death.

His forever scandalised expression never ceased to draw laughs from the audience.

But he was not alone is rejuvenating Wilde’s satirical masterpiece.

Imogen Doel breathed new life into the role of Cecily. Far from the ingenious country flower she purports to be, she is playful, rather daring and utterly believable.

Playing on Algernon’s eccentricities with ease (but never turning him into a caricature), Philip Cumbus put a welcome modern spin on the dilettante’s mannerism, making him more natural and relevant. The Importance of Being Earnest is a wonderful tour de force. I’m certain Wilde would approve of the incongruity of it all.

The Importance of Being Earnest is on at the Theatre Royal Bath until Saturday, June 20.