Daily Dialogue — November 7, 2013

Miss Laetitia Prism: I deposited the manuscript in the bassinet… and placed the baby in the handbag.
John ‘Jack’ Worthing: Where did you deposit the handbag?
Miss Laetitia Prism: Don’t ask me, Mr. Worthing.
John ‘Jack’ Worthing: Mrs. Prism, this is of no small importance to me. I insist on knowing where you deposited the handbag that contained that infant.
Miss Laetitia Prism: I left it in the cloak room in one of the larger railway stations in London.
John ‘Jack’ Worthing: What railway station?
Miss Laetitia Prism: Victoria. The Brighton Line.

— The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), screenplay by Oliver Parker, play by Oscar Wilde

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is dramatic reveal, suggested by hoernsch. Today’s suggestion by Ellen Musikant.

Trivia: The premiere Broadway production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” opened at the Lyceum Theater (New York City) on April 22, 1895, ran for 12 performances and has been revived in New York City eight times since as of 2010.

Dialogue On Dialogue: This dramatic reveal is a payoff to this setup:

Jack: I don’t actually know who I am by birth. I was… well, I was found.
Lady Bracknell: Found?
Jack: Yes. The late Mr. Thomas Cardew, an old gentlemen of a kindly disposition found me and gave me the name of Worthing because he happened to have a first class ticket to Worthing at the time. Worthing is a place in Sussex. It’s a seaside resort.
Lady Bracknell: And where did this charitable gentlemen with the first class ticket to the seaside resort find you?
Jack: In a handbag.
Lady Bracknell: [closes eyes briefly] A handbag?
Jack: Yes, Lady Bracknell, I was in a hand bag. A somewhat large… black… leather handbag with handles… to it.
Lady Bracknell: An ordinary handbag. And where did this Mr. James… or, Thomas Cardew come across this ordinary handbag?
Jack: The cloak room at Victoria Station. It was given to him in mistake for his own…
Lady Bracknell: [Shocked] The cloak room at Victoria Station?
Jack: Yes. The Brighton line.