In the two decades that Irish theatre has engaged me, I have seen many of Oscar Wilde's Lady Bracknells. Double digits to be sure. More Bracknells than Wilde's bon mots? Not quite, but many. One standout in my age-fogged brain is Lynn Redgrave for being able to project authority and displeasure throughout the cavernous Harvey Hall at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Another wonderful Bracknell, really the top of the list, was Nancy Marchand. She made her Bracknell into someone with absolute dominion, next to whom Livia Soprano was a pushover. I cannot hear "Prism! Where is that baby?" without a delighted shiver and a thought about Nancy Marchand.
Last night, at the Counting Squares Production of The Importance of Being Earnest, I added another Lady Bracknell to my Best of Bracknell list. Although the production on the whole veers toward slapstick, sacrificing the compulsory seriousness of the comedy (it is, after all, the importance of being earnest), this Earnest is thoroughly enjoyable, and Haas Regen's Lady Bracknell makes it even more so.
Mr. Regen, who apparently went to the Dame Edith Evans Acting School for this role, is unconditionally and perfectly resolute. 
His humorlessness adds to the humor of a play the New York Times deemed the greatest comedy of the last millennium. He is emotionless when all around are swirling in inappropriate (by Victorian standards) emotions. Mr. Regen captures the Wilde masterpiece in toto (mercifully there are no drag jokes here) – a Gorgon wearing a lovely 'ladies who lunch' suit.
The cross-gendered Lady Bracknell is not without precedent. This past summer, Brian Bedford played the role, and it was not the first time a male Lady Bracknell held court at the Stratford Theatre Festival. In fact, controversial social critic Camille Paglia called for all the female roles in Earnest to be played by men in order to better illustrate the duality of the characters – Jack/Earnest Worthing, Algernon Montcrieff/Earnest Worthing, and Cecily, who may be the aunt or she may be a niece. Even Lady Bracknell is not who she seems. She has all the imperiousness of old money, and it comes as a surprise that she made her own fortune with her marriage.
But back to Bracknell: the character's sexuality is the least of her attributes; it matters not the gender of the actor. All that matters is decorum.
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