 In Sir Nigel <unk> 's 1930 production at the Lyric , <unk> , John Gielgud played Jack to the Lady Bracknell of his aunt , <unk> Terry @-@ Lewis . Gielgud produced and starred in a production at the Globe ( now the Gielgud ) Theatre in 1939 , in a cast that included Edith Evans as Lady Bracknell , Joyce Carey as Gwendolen , Angela <unk> as Cecily and Margaret Rutherford as Miss Prism . The Times considered the production the best since the original , and praised it for its fidelity to Wilde 's conception , its " airy , responsive ball @-@ playing quality . " Later in the same year Gielgud presented the work again , with Jack Hawkins as Algy , Gwen <unk> @-@ Davies as Gwendolen and Peggy Ashcroft as Cecily , with Evans and Rutherford in their previous roles . The production was presented in several seasons during and after the Second World War , with mostly the same main players . During a 1946 season at the Haymarket the King and Queen attended a performance , which , as the journalist Geoffrey <unk> put it , gave the play " a final accolade of respectability . " The production toured North America , and was successfully staged on Broadway in 1947 . 
