Oscar Wilde's complex identity, as family man and homosexual outsider, socialite, socialist and Irish nationalist, underpins his unique insight into role-playing and the masks we all wear.

A Woman of No Importance, for all its charm, exposes an aristocratic world that is smug, snobbish and morally bankrupt. An Ideal Husband portrays a glittering diplomatic gathering which is revealed as a masquerade to cover up the shady past of a prominent establishment figure. Lady Windermere's Fan is a brilliant critique of conventional morality. In The Importance of Being Earnest every character is revealed to be leading a hypocritical double life, while Salome and A Florentine Tragedy use historical settings to explore issues of sex, gender and power.

While Wilde delighted audiences with his dazzling wit, it was, as Richard Allen Cave says, his innovative use of colour, design and spatial relationships on stage that made his plays 'revolutionary in the theatre of their time'.

This edition includes an introduction, commentaries and explanatory notes, and an excised scene from The Importance of Being Earnest.