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Alternative version

When Wilde handed his final draft of the play over to theatrical impresario George Alexander it was complete in four acts. The actor manager of the St. James' Theatre soon began a reworking of the play (whether to provide space for a 'warmer' or for a musical interlude, as was often the bill, is not entirely clear). Wilde agreed to the cuts and various elements of the second and third acts were combined. The ensuing three act play is the version that opened in London and also the version usually performed and published ever since.

The "missing" extra act, coming between the current second and third, was heavily cut. The greatest impact was the loss of the character Mr. Gribsby, a solicitor who turns up from London to arrest the profligate "Ernest" (i.e. Jack) for his unpaid dining bills. Algernon — who is going by the name "Ernest" at this point — is about to be led away to Holloway Jail unless he settles his accounts immediately. Jack finally agrees to pay for Ernest — everyone thinking that it is Algy's bill when in fact it is his own.

The four-act version was first played on the radio in a BBC production and is still sometimes performed. The 2002 film includes the Gribsby scene from the missing act.