Life Lines

A Shared Reading activity pack

to read wherever you are
Issue 55

For more Shared Reading, poems and texts,

email us at: coronavirus@thereader.org.uk
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 “All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;.”

As You Like It, William Shakespeare

The Reader is a charity which usually brings people together to listen

to stories, extracts and poems in free, weekly Shared Reading
groups. In these Life Lines activity packs we hope to offer everyone
the same comfort, meaning and connection through great literature
that our reading groups provide – wherever it finds you.
Each Life Lines pack will bring you some of a story and a poem,
which you can read in your own time. Along with the reading, you’ll
find a selection of thoughts and feelings shared by other fellow
readers about the chosen pieces. We suggest that reading the poem
or the story out loud is a great way to fully immerse yourself in the
reading experience and discover your own personal connections with
the material. It may feel strange but it does make a difference, so do
please give it a try!

This week’s story is an extract from a play called The Importance of

Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde. We are going to be listening in on two
conversations Algernon Moncrieff has. One with his servant, Lane
and the other with a friend called John Worthing (known as ‘Jack’ in
the country and ‘Ernest’ in the city.

Feel free to make notes on your own thoughts and feelings as you go,
perhaps marking words or sentences that particularly stand out to
you…

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The Importance of Being Earnest, By Oscar Wilde

ACT 1

[We join the characters in Algernon’s flat in Half-Moon Street (an

upmarket street in London). The room is luxuriously and artistically
furnished. The sound of a piano is heard in the adjoining room.]

ALGERNON Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

LANE I didn't think it polite to listen, sir.

ALGERNON I'm sorry for that, for your sake. I don't play accurately -
any one can play accurately - but I play with wonderful expression. As
far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for
Life.

LANE Yes, sir.

ALGERNON And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the
cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?

LANE Yes, sir. [Hands them on a salver.]

ALGERNON [Inspects them, takes two, and sits down on the sofa.]
Oh! . . . by the way, Lane, I see from your book that on Thursday night,
when Lord Shoreman and Mr. Worthing were dining with me, eight
bottles of champagne are entered as having been consumed.

LANE Yes, sir; eight bottles and a pint.

ALGERNON Why is it that at a bachelor's establishment the servants

invariably drink the champagne? I ask merely for information.

LANE I attribute it to the superior quality of the wine, sir. I have often
observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first-
rate brand.

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ALGERNON Good heavens! Is marriage so demoralising as that?

LANE I believe it IS a very pleasant state, sir. I have had very little
experience of it myself up to the present. I have only been married
once. That was in consequence of a misunderstanding between myself
and a young person.

ALGERNON [Languidly.] I don't know that I am much interested in

your family life, Lane.

LANE No, sir; it is not a very interesting subject. I never think of it

myself.

ALGERNON Very natural, I am sure. That will do, Lane, thank you.

LANE Thank you, sir.

[LANE goes out.]

ALGERNON Lanes views on marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if

the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use
of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral
responsibility.

Pause for Thought...

As we read we dive straight into the conversation between the two

men. I’m trying to figure out what they are both like from this,
somewhat strange, conversation. Did you get any ideas or
impressions? Did you have a picture of them in your mind?

I’m wondering what we make of Lane as he states that ‘I didn't think it

polite to listen’ to Algernon’s playing? Even with this one sentence I
feel his personality coming out to us. Similarly, in his response,
Algernon reveals a bit of his character… ‘I'm sorry for that, for your
sake. I don't play accurately - any one can play accurately - but I
play with wonderful expression.’ I know we’ve only had a small bit
of the conversation, but I can almost feel the playfulness in the air.

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How did you feel when the conversation switched so quickly? One
moment, it’s piano playing the next it’s Lady Bracknell’s visit and
thoughts on marriage… it feels like you would have to always be
playing attention in Algernon’s company, otherwise you might get lost
in all this talking.

Let’s read on and meet ‘Jack’ who Algernon believes is called

‘Ernest…

[Enter LANE.]

LANE Mr. Ernest Worthing.

[Enter JACK.]

[LANE goes out.]

ALGERNON How are you, my dear Ernest? What brings you up to

town?

JACK Oh, pleasure, pleasure! What else should bring one anywhere?
Eating as usual, I see, Algy!

ALGERNON [Stiffly.] I believe it is customary in good society to take

some slight refreshment at five o'clock. Where have you been since
last Thursday?

JACK [Sitting down on the sofa.] In the country.

ALGERNON What on earth do you do there?

JACK [Pulling off his gloves.] When one is in town one amuses
oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is
excessively boring.

ALGERNON And who are the people you amuse?

JACK [Airily.] Oh, neighbours, neighbours.

ALGERNON Got nice neighbours in your part of Shropshire?

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JACK Perfectly horrid! Never speak to one of them.
ALGERNON How immensely you must amuse them! [Goes over and
takes sandwich.] By the way, Shropshire is your county, is it not?

JACK Eh? Shropshire? Yes, of course. Hallo! Why all these cups?
Why cucumber sandwiches? Why such reckless extravagance in one
so young? Who is coming to tea?

ALGERNON Oh! merely Aunt Augusta and Gwendolen.

JACK How perfectly delightful!

ALGERNON Yes, that is all very well; but I am afraid Aunt Augusta
won't quite approve of your being here.

JACK May I ask why?

ALGERNON My dear fellow, the way you flirt with Gwendolen is

perfectly disgraceful. It is almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts
with you.

JACK I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly

to propose to her.

ALGERNON I thought you had come up for pleasure? . . . I call that

business.

JACK How utterly unromantic you are!

ALGERNON I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very

romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite
proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then
the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty.
If ever I get married, I'll certainly try to forget the fact.

JACK I have no doubt about that, dear Algy. The Divorce Court was
specially invented for people whose memories are so curiously
constituted.

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Pause for Thought...

Reading this, I’m wondering, are there any differences in the way
Algernon speaks when speaking to a friend instead of a servant. What
do you think? And what do we make of Jack? He seems to be a good
match for Algernon in the talking department! We don’t find out here
why he is using different names… on one hand he seems to be a bit
secretive and on the other he is quite open…declaring he is planning
to propose. Let’s have a closer look at that bit…
When Jack declares that he is ‘in love with Gwendolen’ and that he
has ‘come up to town expressly to propose to her.’ What do you
think he was expecting or hoping his friend’s response might be? Well,
Algernon states, ‘I thought you had come up for pleasure? . . . I call
that business.’ Algernon then goes on to separate being in love from
proposing… what do we make of his view? Having been with him now
for a while, do we take him seriously? I’m reminded of our first part of
the play when he says to his servant Lane, ‘I don't know that I am
much interested in your family life, Lane.’ – I’m not sure how to take
some of the things he says.

Well let’s finish our extract for today…

ALGERNON Oh! there is no use speculating on that subject. Divorces

are made in Heaven – [JACK puts out his hand to take a sandwich.
ALGERNON at once interferes.] Please don't touch the cucumber
sandwiches. They are ordered specially for Aunt Augusta [Takes one
and eats it].

JACK Well, you have been eating them all the time.

ALGERNON That is quite a different matter. She is my aunt. [Takes

plate from below.] Have some bread and butter. The bread and butter
is for Gwendolen. Gwendolen is devoted to bread and butter.

JACK [Advancing to table and helping himself.] And very good bread
and butter it is too.

ALGERNON Well, my dear fellow, you need not eat as if you were
going to eat it all. You behave as if you were married to her already.
You are not married to her already, and I don't think you ever will be.
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JACK Why on earth do you say that?

ALGERNON Well, in the first place girls never marry the men they flirt with.
Girls don't think it right.

JACK Oh, that is nonsense!

ALGERNON It isn't. It is a great truth. It accounts for the extraordinary

number of bachelors that one sees all over the place. In the second place, I
don't give my consent.

JACK Your consent!

ALGERNON My dear fellow, Gwendolen is my first cousin. And before I allow

you to marry her, you will have to clear up the whole question of Cecily.

[Rings bell.]

JACK Cecily! What on earth do you mean? What do you mean, Algy, by
Cecily! I don't know any one of the name of Cecily.

[Enter LANE.]

ALGERNON Bring me that cigarette case Mr. Worthing left in the smoking-
room the last time he dined here.

LANE Yes, sir.

Final thoughts...

Before we leave our extract, let’s have a look at two moments between the
two friends. When Algernon tells Jack he can’t have a sandwich and Jack
replies, ‘Well, you have been eating them all the time.’ To this Algernon
replies, ‘That is quite a different matter. She is my aunt.’…again I’m
wondering is that true? How was this said, in jest? As a rebuke? What do
you think?
The other moment that had me thinking was when Algernon declared ‘I don't
give my consent.’ I wonder if the feeling in the room changed here? Had it
been all fun and word games up till this point? I’m not sure…

We’re leaving on a note of mystery…who is this Cecily and why does she
prevent Algernon giving his consent? If you’d like to read on the play is out of
copyright and freely available online. 8
Time for a poem ….
We’ll pick up with another story again in our next issue, but now a pause
for some poetry. Poetry isn’t always easy for everyone to get going with.
In our Shared Reading groups we read a poem out loud a few times, to
give ourselves a bit of time to hear it aloud. Give this a go yourself and
see if it helps you to feel comfortable with the words, even if you’re still
not sure what it’s all about!

We aren’t looking to find an answer here, or what the person writing it

might have meant when they wrote it. We’re just looking to see if any
feelings or ideas come up when we read it – and often we find that the
more time you allow yourself to simply be with the poem, the more
thoughts and feelings will come through.

One of the keys is to enjoy yourself: take your time, read it out loud, have
a think about any bits you like, or that puzzle you, then… have another
read!

This week's Featured Poem is actually a speech from a play called As

You Like It by William Shakespeare. The speech is sometimes titled ‘All
the worlds a stage’. The speech goes through the speaker’s view of the
human life cycle in seven stages. As we read try to imagine what these
stages look and feel like. Can we see ourselves in the stages? Do we
maybe feel like we are maybe caught between stages? Maybe you read
this and think, ‘I would have included different stages…’ Hold on to
these initial thoughts and feelings as we move through the piece.

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(As you like it, Act 2, Scene 7) by William Shakespeare

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

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As you read through that did you have any initial thoughts or feelings?
Maybe a word or a phrase stood out to you, although you aren’t sure
why. It’s great if things sort of jump out at you, but don’t worry if your
impressions or thoughts aren’t that clear. Let’s have another read, if
you can try reading it out loud or in a smaller chunk.

After re-reading the first five lines on their own, I had to pause… the
phrase ‘merely players’…’merely’…what frame of mind is the speaker
in here? How do they view life and the task of being a human? As we
read on we’ve got the statement,

‘And one man in his time plays many parts, / His acts being seven
ages.’

What do we make of this? Breaking down life into distinct ‘stages’?

What does the speaker capture about life? What do they miss out on?
Do we agree with ‘seven ages’?...Do you sense a shift in tone as we
read through them? From the ‘whining schoolboy’ to ‘the lover’ to
‘the solider’ to ‘the justice’? Maybe those titles don’t fit us, but going
deeper, the words around the stages resounds pretty loudly. From the
‘creeping like a snail’ to the ‘woeful ballad’ to the ‘quick to
quarrel’…sometimes I feel like I move through all those stages in one
day, let alone a lifetime.

As we read the last few lines, the speaker describes how they see the
‘last scene of all’…after reading this in a group one member said that
they found this so interesting, as they put it…’well, we’ve been through
it all, all those stages…now it’s almost permission not to try so hard.’
That’s stuck with me whenever I read this now.

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We’ve left this page blank for you to make notes,
draw a picture, have a go at writing yourself or jot
down something you’d like to tell us…

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As well as reading materials, we’ve also included a puzzle
for you to have a go at while you’re having a cuppa. Here
is a word search, can you find some of the words from
today’s poem below?

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