Tag Archives: Oscar Wilde

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

Kip Williams’ adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s novel is unquestionably accomplished. Its sole performer Sarah Snook – yes, she takes all the roles – deserves ovations. And technically the production itself is just as impressive. Best of all, the actor and the tech work together. It’s easy to get excited about it all.

Snook is not alone… in two senses. First, she is acting with herself. She starts off slow, adopting different personas for the aesthete Lord Wotton, the painter Basil Hallward and his subject, Dorian. It’s clear Snook has each character well developed. All the while, she is filmed live and projected on to big screens. It’s well done, but we’ve seen it before.

Then Snook starts to perform with recordings of herself. The different characters appear on the screens. And the screens start to move. There’s a huge team behind this – 14 take a bow – not only filming but dressing and moving scenery around (Marg Horwell’s design is great). There’s a danger of distraction as the crew is so fascinating. And, at the risk of sounding old and grumpy, you do end up spending a lot of time looking at screens.

Yet nothing can detract from Snook’s achievement. Solo shows of this kind (such as Andrew Scott’s amazing Vanya from last year) often astound. There’s a sense of wonder that the actor can keep up with it all. And it’s worth noting that, while Williams’ adaptation helps to make the action clear, the show is… louder than Scott’s efforts. There are some odd musical choices and lots of overemphasis. But there’s no doubt it’s a brave performance. Having her face close-up on massive screens shows that Snook, unlike Dorian, has no vanity, and she finds the raw emotion behind Wilde’s elegance.

Is it churlish to want any more from a night at the theatre? Williams has brought the page to the stage with novelty and made it modern. The use of filters and selfies is brilliant (although, surely, not as low-fi as it pretends – video designer David Bergman deserves much acclaim). It’s easy to see current narcissism in Dorian. That point is well made, and it’s a shame it isn’t explored in greater depth.

Going easy on the philosophy and embracing the exaggerations of the novel, the production is often funny. And it’s dynamic – there’s even a chase scene added with the kind of drone footage Netflix likes. But it is no surprise that there’s melodrama in a morality tale from 1890. In the end, despite plenty to admire, it is hard to find much in the way of interpretation. The show feels like an exercise: entertaining, but a lot of effort for relatively little insight.

Until 11 May 2024

www.doriangrayplay.com

Photo by Marc Brenner

“Salomé” at the Southwark Playhouse

Lazarus Theatre Company’s exemplary production of Oscar Wilde’s infamous play benefits from Ricky Dukes’ forceful directorial vision and strong performances from a committed cast.

The production is exemplary in the sense that it suggests how to deal with a difficult text. More like a poem than a play, Salomé is hard work. Even nowadays we can see why Wilde’s morbid, exaggerated language was once thought unhealthy…it’s kind of, well, sickly. The production makes the action as clear and concise as possible. Mostly doing justice to the poetry (with the exception of added expletives) there’s even a sense of humour, which the text itself notably lacks.

Salome, Lazarus - Pauline Babula
Pauline Babula

Further credit for Dukes comes with efforts to recreate the sense of scandal the play once engendered. Young Salomé’s bargain with her step-father is made explicitly erotic with sexual tension and exploitation equally highlighted. This is achieved in sophisticated fashion thanks in part to the casting of Herod and his wife (Jamie O’Neill and Pauline Babula) who give subtle performances suggesting the power play between them as well as their characters’ individual lust for sex or power.

Games play a big part. The famous dance becomes a creepy parody of childhood fun – a brilliant move – with tag and hide-and-seek making it queasy to watch. Desire is consistently identified as dangerous – creating tension and getting to the heart of Wilde’s obsessions.

Salome, Lazarus - Fred Thomas
Fred Thomas

Further provocation comes with the casting of the leads, surely deliberately removed from the ‘blind’ casting we usually applaud. There’s a charge – and a challenge – from having a Prince Salome and a Jokanaan, explicitly praised for the whiteness of his skin, performed by a black man. The expectations of the audience (and author) are questioned. That said, what really gives the production power are the detailed and skilled performances. In the title role, Fred Thomas mixes arrogance and fear with desperation, managing to make this murderer surprisingly sympathetic.

Riveting as Thomas is, especially in the harrowing finale, eyes should really be on Prince Plockey who takes the part of the Baptist. Plockey brings a power to the prophet that makes you understand why he is feared. A continual stately procession around the table that is Sorcha Corcoran’s clever set design mounts in power. The focus Plockey brings to this pacing is fantastic and each announcement from the doomed figure creates a sense of dread fitting to the text’s doom-laden tone. Salomé is Jokanaan and Plockey’s show which, despite the title, is exactly as it should be.

Until 11 September 2021

www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

Photos by Adam Trigg

“The Importance of Being Earnest” from the Lawrence Batley Theatre and The Dukes

This super show from Yasmeen Khan is only loosely based on the Oscar Wilde classic. It is a strong play that stands on its own, while knowledge of the original adds humour. Much of the fun comes from relocating the action ‘up North’ – what a great idea – but there’s plenty of intelligent satire, too.

Staging act one on a film set is a neat way of dealing with Wilde’s engagement with themes of artifice and style. Here, Algy and Jack – now Jamil – are both actors. While Tom Dixon and Gurjeet Singh do a good job in the roles, it’s a small shame Khan decided not to follow Wilde and make both characters equally witty – the point about access to such careers would still stand. Instead, Jamil is endearing rather than amusing.

As with the recent version of Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey from Henry Filloux-Bennett, social media plays a big part in the show. Khan raises good points and gets some jokes from her concerns. Jamil is a vlogger, under the pseudonym of Earnest of course, and his love interest, rechristened Gul, is glued to her phone, which makes the role rather flat (despite Nikki Patel’s efforts). Zoe Iqbal’s Safina, with her self-realisation and “manifesting”, is very funny. But both female characters seem weaker than the ones Wilde wrote, their scene together is disappointing.

Mina Anwar and Melanie Marshall in The Importance of Being Earnest
Mina Anwar and Melanie Marshall

It is with smaller roles that the show takes off. Both Miss Prism, a life coach, and Lady Bracknell, or rather Ms Begum, a hard-nosed businesswoman, make strong roles for Melanie Marshall and Mina Anwar (who also directs). There’s a lovely cameo appearance for Divina de Campo and a good part for Harriet Thorpe as Algy’s agent. Best of all is the appearance of a director, and the performance of this new role from Paul Chahidi. Wanting to workshop with Jamil, excited by his dropped aitches and the “pain” of his heritage, such sharp satire takes us to heart of Khan’s concerns.

Comparisons to the source material are only part of the story. Kahn hasn’t just set the action in a different place. By including characters of South Asian descent – with a wicked sense of humour – she raises plenty of issues and claims her own voice, showing style and substance at the same time. I’m sure Wilde would approve.

Until 4 May 2021

www.importanceofbeingearnest.com

“Wilde Without The Boy” at the Playground Theatre

Here’s a one-man show with a difference. Gareth Armstrong’s adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s prison letter, De Profundis, takes a fascinating text and reveals its complexity admirably. As the genius author’s relationship with his lover Lord Alfred Douglas is recounted with considerable tension, an emotive case for a spiritual journey is presented. More than a monologue, the show is an intelligent engagement with a historic text.

Gerard Logan takes the role of Wilde. The performance is one of great subtlety and nuance. Already well-acclaimed, and rightly so, Logan presents an Oscar without exaggeration and few affectations. Nearing the end of his prison sentence, it’s a broken man that we see. But also one claiming to have rebuilt himself through suffering.

How convincing you find the humility of the self-proclaimed “lord of language” is for you to judge. How much of a victim to an uncontrollable passion is also open to debate. And how pain and suffering relate to plenty of talk about the soul might make your head spin. But Logan is utterly convincing when it comes to Wilde’s devotion to Douglas. And he is very good when it comes to showing Wilde’s terror at events. Further, with more than a little superiority and glimpses of cruelty, care is taken to ensure Wilde isn’t entirely likeable.

The evening ends with a further treat. A performance of Wilde’s poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol. It’s an excellent pairing that aids the argument within Armstrong’s text perfectly, and the influence of Wilde’s experience on his art becomes crystal clear. Accompanied by a sensitive score from Simon Slater, Logan’s delivery is a huge achievement. Surely this poem is the one last work of art discussed in De Profundis and the case made for the work’s status as a masterpiece. It is a rare treat indeed to hear a recital of this quality.

Until 27 September 2020

www.theplaygroundtheatre.london

“The Importance of Being Earnest” at the Vaudeville Theatre

A year-long season of Oscar Wilde plays, masterminded by Dominic Dromgoole, draws to a close with the biggest and best: the great man’s famous comedy of misconstrued manners and identities that everyone agrees is a masterpiece. All the productions from the Classic Spring Theatre Company have been fresh and intelligent, with a marked confidence in their material, and this show from director Michael Fentiman is no exception.

A talented cast is inspired to be bold. Fehinti Balogun has real star quality as a particularly dandyish Algernon, while his fellow bachelor Jack is played with amusing bluster by Jacob Fortune-Lloyd. Their love interests are both portrayed as formidable characters, with great performances from Fiona Button and Pippa Nixon. As for the older generation, looking on at the love affairs and ostensibly in charge, every line from Sophie Thompson’s Lady Bracknell and Stella Gonet’s Miss Prism is worth listening to, as Wilde pokes at any and all pretension.

This is as bacchanalian a production as you could wish for Wilde – full of food and sex. Compulsive eating is picked out; watching the cast manage sandwiches and crumpets while delivering such complex lines is its own pleasure. And while remaining credibly fin de siècle, these are the lustiest ladies you could get away with (Button’s “tremors” are beautifully delivered). Meanwhile Balogun plays Algernon with a polyamorous streak that’s blissfully naughty.

The production has a careful eye on class with the servants’ limited lines playing a big part. Algernon’s butler, Lane, becomes part of the family and benefits from a strong performance from Geoffrey Freshwater. Thompson’s Lady B is satisfyingly innovative: there’s no dithering about with that handbag line and there’s a touching moment at the plot reveal. Yes, no matter how silly, Thompson is right to bring a tear to her eye here.

A clean, clear look at a famous text, even one as perfect as this, is always good. The balance with retaining what made it a classic is perfect here. Perhaps the approach can be summed up with the complementary work on set and costume design from Madeline Girling and Gabriella Slade, respectively. The stage is almost bare, free of fussy period details, while the wardrobe is spot on and gorgeous. So there’s nothing to get in the way of the comedy. And nothing to deny the date of the piece either. It’s to Fentiman’s credit that his touches are thought provoking and respectful – and in every case increase the wonderful humour on offer.

Until 20 October 2018

www.classicspring.co.uk

Photo by Marc Brenner

“Lady Windermere’s Fan” at the Vaudeville Theatre

The estimable Kathy Burke is an expert in comedy. Wearing her director’s hat for Oscar Wilde’s 1892 play, her feel for laughs is instinctual: she makes the most heavily quoted of aphorisms light and the whole evening fun. In a cast of big guns, national treasure Jennifer Saunders is the star and has the audience laughing at every turn. Despite a small role, Saunders fans won’t be disappointed. A front of cloth song, written for her by Burke, is the funniest three minutes in a theatre that you can imagine.

Saunders is a good enough actress to know she’s not the lead; her role as the Duchess of Berwick is to show the follies of society and, channelling a previous performance in the much underrated Let Them Eat Cake, she is brilliant at this. The leads are Grace Molony as the moral Lady Windermere and the always excellent Samantha Spiro as the mannered Mrs Erlynne – a woman “with a past before her” –  captivating society despite scandal, and adding drama to attempts at reclaiming respectability.

Grace Molony and Samantha Spiro
Grace Molony and Samantha Spiro

This trio of performers alone makes this a show that celebrates women. And there are some strong performances from the men in the play, too: Kevin Bishop plays the rakish Lord Darlington with passion, and Joseph Marcell gives a first-rate comic turn. But Burke reminds us how strong Wilde’s writing for female roles is – how he treated them with a fairness, if not an equality, far beyond his time. The respect extends to smaller roles for women: Natasha Magigi has a lovely cameo. And Burke makes sure even a maid gets a personality here. There’s a struggle with our titular character, the lesson she has to learn – and the protection those close to her insist on ­– are so dated that she is hard to connect to. But, as Lady Windermere herself says, she is “behind the age” – we are supposed to feel unsatisfied with her, and her development is captured adroitly by Molony.

Most impressive is the production’s treatment of the play’s histrionic moments. We cannot be shocked in the way Wilde expected, although it’s easy to see that the drama and comedy would have been more violently contrasted in his day. But, in keeping with this season of his plays, masterminded by Dominic Dromgoole, we can still see Wilde as a radical. Burke has a clear appreciation of how he played with the theatrical melodramas of his age. There’s a brilliant scene with the burning of a plot-turning letter, and the ironies of family history don’t deserve a spoiler. Wilde was having fun with conventions – Burke follows his lead, and fun is what you’ll have too with this clever revival.

Until 7 April 2018

www.nimaxtheatres.com

Photos by Marc Brenner

“A Woman of No Importance” at the Vaudeville Theatre

Dominic Dromgoole’s latest project, with his new company, Classic Spring, is a year of Oscar Wilde plays. It’s off to a fantastic start with this story of adultery and sexual inequality. Wilde, the Victorian radical, has a sharp eye on masculine privilege that feels depressingly topical.

Providing effective pathos is Eve Best as the wronged woman, Mrs Arbuthnot. It’s hard for modern ears to hear her self-excoriation. But Best sets up an underlying anger towards her reencountered seducer (impressively performed by Dominic Rowan) that thrills. Best and the whole company’s handling of the play’s plentiful melodrama is masterful – a few well-placed laughs help us over some crippling sincerity.

This play is serious. But this is Wilde, so the comedy is as good as any you could find – in his day or now. Leading the epigrams alongside Rowan is Emma Fielding as the archly aesthetic Mrs Allonby. And there’s a great little performance from Phoebe Fildes as a sophisticate in training. Leading the way are Eleanor Bron and Anne Reid as two aristocratic dowagers giving top-class performances. It takes a lot not to be controlled by Wilde’s comedy; both make the lines natural, while Reid’s suggestion of a little too much digestif in the third act is a cheeky move that gets a laugh with every line.

So far, this is strong actors making the most of a genius. More than enough reason to see the show. But Dromgoole has a programme of ideas driving his production that elevates this to one of the finest of revivals.

First is the idea of exploring the proscenium theatre that Wilde’s plays were written for and that the Vaudeville is such a gorgeous example of. Let’s celebrate this wonderful format. It leads to fantastic sets and costumes from Jonathan Fensom and sensitive lighting from Ben Ormerod. Scene changes include some songs and period numbers arranged by Jason Carr – now that’s entertainment. After years at Shakespeare’s Globe, Dromgoole is an expert at the potential of a period.

Dromgoole also knows how to make sure a play doesn’t get stuck in the past. In a revelatory move, he’s utilised a study of the play’s previous drafts. The assumption that Wilde would have been bolder had the theatre of his day allowed it is a point for discussion. But it’s a fun debate, and all-too- suitable for a figure whose legacy has been so often used (and abused). You have to know the text well to work out what’s gone on, and plenty of lines still feel old-fashioned, but the idea is brave and effective. Classic Spring has a winning formula set up for an exciting year. Get booking.

Until 30 December 2017

www.nimaxtheatres.com

Photo by Marc Brenner

“The Importance Of Being Earnest” at the Vaudeville Theatre

Adrian Noble’s high quality revival of Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece has more to offer than its gender blind casting of David Suchet in the role of the indomitable Lady Bracknell. It has to be stressed that Suchet is brilliant and very much a star. Without those Poirot moustaches, he’s surprisingly convincing in drag. Did I detect a nod to his former role when Bracknell interviews a prospective groom for her daughter? Notes are taken in a book you can imagine the sleuth using for clues. But more importantly, Suchet has a playful coyness that brings more laughs to a character with no shortage of great lines. The ultimate snob, Lady Bracknell’s disgust at that infamous handbag is as we expect, but Suchet adds a repugnance to the location of Bayswater that should go down in theatre history.

Imogen Doel as Cecily and Philip Cumbus as Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest
Imogen Doel as Cecily and Philip Cumbus as Algernon

Just as good as Suchet is the strong cast that Noble utilises to create a zippy production with just the right amount of irreverence towards a classic. The four young lovers do justice to the play, while adding contemporary touches. Michael Benz and Philip Cumbus play the bachelors, John and Algernon, with as many laddish touches as the text will allow. The scene of them fighting over muffins is daring – I fear for Cumbus choking one night – but pays off. Emily Barber does well to suggest how she might, as predicted, face the “tragedy” of becoming like her mother, Lady Bracknell, while Imogen Doel adds a quirky youthfulness to the role of Cecily that feels strikingly modern. This quartet, plus Suchet, live up to the freshness of Wilde’s script and are sure to please admirers of the play.

Until 7 November 2015

www.importanceofearnest.com

Photos by Alastair Muir

“The Judas Kiss” at Hampstead Theatre

David Hare’s 1998 play, The Judas Kiss, takes two pivotal moments in Oscar Wilde’s relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas: his refusal to flee to the continent before his arrest for ‘gross indecency’ and the couple’s final split in Naples. The story makes terrific drama. Under the expert hands of renowned Australian director Neil Armfield, this well-known tale is used to explore the emotions and motivations behind a great love story.

It’s not often that a casting director gets a mention in a review but Cara Beckinsale deserves it. Rupert Everett as Wilde seems so obviously right that it’s strange he hasn’t taken on the part before. His physical transformation is remarkable – the resemblance uncanny – and his intelligent and magnetic performance swings from brilliant dazzler to private thinker, aware that he has been “cast in a role”.

Freddie Fox brings his cheekbones and youth to the role of Lord Alfred Douglas, but he doesn’t just look the part. This ‘Bosie’ goes beyond the spoilt child – Fox gives his selfishness a pathological edge. The Judas Kiss is really a three-hander, with the part played by Robbie Ross in Wilde’s life given the place it deserves. Dismissed by Douglas as “third party”, this integral figure is poignantly portrayed by Cal MacAninch.

Ross’s presence is just another example of what a well-crafted play The Judas Kiss is. Taking on big themes, as Wilde believed an artist should, and arguably sneaking in a few more – issue of rights, freedom and a “crisis of silence” – that make Wilde’s plight feel contemporary, Wilde becomes more than a gay martyr or quotable figure. In Hare’s hands he is made human. This give The Judas Kiss the passion needed for great theatre.

Until 13 October 2012

www.hampsteadtheatre.com

Photo by Manuel Harlan

Written 13 September 2012 for The London Magazine

“An Ideal Husband” at the Vaudeville Theatre

We sometimes forget what a political writer Oscar Wilde was. An Ideal Husband is the story of a successful MP whose corruption comes back to haunt him. A crime he once committed, and upon which his fortune is based, is used to blackmail him in a play that is as much a comedy of morals as of manners.

This is a luxurious production. Designer Stephen Brimson Lewis’s golden sets deserve the applause they receive, and are all the more impressive for not being slavishly historical. Lindsay Posner’s direction is similarly lavish, the pace is leisurely, so that we can fully savour Wilde’s delicious ironies.

Alexander Hanson and Rachael Stirling play the couple that faces ruin from the unravelling scandal. Both work well with the play’s occasional melodrama, and inject real emotion into their very Victorian marriage. Samantha Bond excels as, “that dreadful Mrs Cheveley, in a most lovely gown” who is, “as large as life and not nearly so natural”. Bond is fresh and deliciously wicked as this crinolined thief and blackmailer.

Elliot Cowan’s performance as the Viscount Goring is revelatory. Goring is the Wildean dandy we all expect but Cowan not only delivers his aphorisms admirably, he adds a depth to the character that includes a truly steely edge.

Both Goring and his fiancée Mabel, charmingly performed by Fiona Button, tackle Wilde’s epigrams with just the right amount of knowing glances, for some of them are silly. But one line resonates: “Always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it.” My advice? Get a ticket for this classy production as quickly as you can.

Until 26 February 2011

Photo by Nobby Clark

Written 12 November 2010 for The London Magazine