BY MEGAN LASSWELL

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Oscar Wilde called "The Importance of Being Earnest" his "trivial" play. Indeed, he uses the story of hopelessly trivial people to skewer the late-Victorian obsession with etiquette and appearances.

The South Coast Repertory production of this warmest of Wilde's plays, directed by Warner Shook and running through March 9, highlights both the sharp social commentary and the characters' humanity.

Playing the wealthy layabout Algernon Moncrieff, Michael Gotch is a harmless fool who, by his own proud admission, lives only for pleasure. Tommy Schrider is Earnest Worthing, Algernon's greatly put-upon good friend.

When Algernon discovers that Earnest's cigarette case is inscribed to "Uncle Jack" from "Little Cecily," he demands an explanation.

Earnest grudgingly admits that he is, in fact, not Earnest, but Jack, and that Cecily is his ward, just turned 18. Appropriately suspicious of Algernon's motives, he refuses to divulge Cecily's location and forbids his friend from ever seeking her out.

Schrider's British accent wavered distractingly in and out during the first act, but improved during the performance. His Jack is terribly bored by the country, where he lives with Cecily, and he has invented a wild brother, Earnest, whom he must continually travel to London to check. This allows him to escape his pastoral doldrums.

Algernon has a similar invention, a needy invalid named Bunbury, whom he uses periodically to escape his imperious Aunt Augusta, the Lady Bracknell. Kandis Chappell, as Aunt Augusta, is deliciously fearsome.

Jack struggles with his love for Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax, played with shrewd sophistication by Christine Marie Brown.

Gwendolen returns his affection - in fact, she is thoroughly prepared for the proposal, directing him in just how he will declare his intention - but unintentionally complicates things when she opines that she could never love a man not named Earnest.

Algernon, meanwhile, having gleaned the address of Jack's country house, dashes off to meet the mysterious ward in the guise of Jack's profligate imaginary brother. Elise Hunt sparkles as the disarming ingenue Cecily Cardew, whose innocent machinations bring Algernon literally to one knee. When Cecily, too, declares that she has always dreamed of marrying an Earnest, the men's troubles multiply.

Amelia White is excellent as Cecily's country governess, Miss Prism. She exhorts Cecily to study her German while pining for the Rev. Canon Chasuble, played by Richard Doyle. The heaving of her ample bosom betryas the depth of her feeling more than does her nervous flirting. Chasuble, equally nervous, thrills to her timid advances.

"Earnest" is a play filled with Wilde's trademark quips, with some of the choicest reserved for the female characters. Cecily and Gwendolen's genteel sparring match over tea, when each believes she is Earnest's true bride, is one of the funniest scenes in a production full of comedy.

Once all the characters have learned the importance of being Earnest, if not earnest, the audience is left with the truth of Wilde's words: The play "has as its philosophy ... that we should treat all trivial things seriously, and the serious things in life with sincere and studied triviality."

Megan Lasswell (562) 499-1289, megan.lasswell@presstelegram.com

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THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday; 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; with 2:30 p.m. weekend matinees, through March 9.

Where: South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

Tickets: $28 to $62.

Information: (714) 708-5555, www.scr.org.

Our rating: Three stars