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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Paying tribute to genius
To Meet Oscar Wilde The Nonentities Rose Theatre, Kidderminster ***** EVERY so often there comes along a
production which takes theatre beyond ordinary or even good into the
realms of the exceptional – and Oscar Wilde himself would no doubt have
seen this studio play as a triumph. If Ross Workman treads the boards until he is 90
he will hard pushed to produce a better performance than this, his Wilde
is simply magnificent. It is studied, eloquent and measured with flashes
of anger, depths of despair and moments of compassion - and, bewigged,
he even bears a resemblance to the glittering rising and then falling
star. The stentorian Colin Young gives wonderful
support in a variety of roles from friends, such as the journalist
and brothel creeper Frank Harris and Lord Evelyn,to prison governors,
chaplain and warders, judges, QCs and even a simple minded prisoner,
each role and character not only different but, more important, seen to
be different. Equally populating the stage is Sue Downing, who
is there as actress Penelope Dyall as Oscar opens the play with his
lecture but appears as society hostesses, mother, vitriolic crowd and
wife. Matt Preece is a fine Bosie, Lord Alfred Douglas,
the spoilt, extravagant, hedonistic son of the Marquis of Queensberry,
he of boxing's Queensberry rules, who was to be the cause of Oscar's
downfall, persuading Wilde to sue for libel when Queensberry left him a
note calling him a somdomite (sic). With Wilde's lifestyle where he was no stranger
to male brothels and prostitutes it was a high stakes decision. Lose and
the door opened wide for charges on homosexual acts, and so it proved as
Wilde was arrested on charges of gross indecency – a lesser charge than
might have been applied.. Preece is also takes on multi-parts including a
prisoner, and a warder in Reading Goal. We have a fascination with Wilde who perhaps is
only second to Shakespeare for the number of memorable quotes he left
behind to enrich the English language.
He was a star who had reached the heavens with
witty plays such as Lady WIndermere's Fan, his first and The
Importance of Being Earnest, his last. He wrote poetry, a novel –
The Picture of Dorian Gray – short stories, a political treatise and
even fairy stories with The Happy Prince and Other Stories. He was the toast of society, witty, charming, and
the most sought after guest for any soiree or salon so his fall from
grace was spectacular and one from which he was never to recover, dying
penniless in Hôtel d'Alsace, a cheap, run down, hotel in Paris, the city
where he is buried. Norman Holland's play takes the form of a lecture
by Wilde recounting and explaining his life, rather like the 50,000 word
letter he wrote to Bosie which was published by his friend Robert Ross
as the De Profundis; it is claimed it was Ross initiated Wilde
into homosexual sex. The lecture becomes scenes from Wilde's life all
within the intimate space of the Rose Theatre and the cast should also
be congratulated on recognising the audience was on three sides and
playing to that. The black box staging was simple but effective; a
small table and two chairs, a black dais covered in Wilde quotes picked
out in white, a lectern and a chaise longue, while lighting, from Murray
Bridges and Joe Harper, and sound by Derek Taylor, separated the scenes. This is Marika Farr's first venture as main
director with The Nonentities and it is an impressive debut, keeping up
a good pace in a production which develops its own comfortable rhythm
carried along by a marvellous cast. There is inevitable humour in a script packed
with Wilde quotes but ultimately it is a tragedy of a broken life which
left a wife and two sons in its wake in a world where any hint of
homosexuality, at least publically, made you n outcast. Wilde's last published piece was the poignant
poem, The Ballad of Reading Goal where he was incarcerated for two years
with hard labour – where a harsh regime, at least until a change of
governor, meant he earning no remission. Wilde in the play quotes from the poem about
despair and the hanging of a prisoner for murder. It perhaps explains
Wilde's imprisonment better than any play. (Click
here to read the poem) Forget this is an amateur production. This is
exceptional theatre by any standards. See it. Roger Clarke |
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