The European Arts Company visits Worthing’s Connaught Theatre on July 4th with The Trials of Oscar Wilde, a play which showcases the reality of Oscar Wilde’s criminal and libel trials on stage, in the town that the playwright called home while writing The Importance of Being Earnest.
It was 100 days after the triumphant opening night of The Importance of Being Earnest that Oscar Wilde was imprisoned, bankrupted and sentenced to two years hard labour.
The Trials of Oscar Wilde, which has been supported by Arts Council England and Unity Theatre Trust in association with Stonewall, uses the actual words from Oscar Wilde’s trials so that audiences may hear the words spoken by and to the real Oscar for the first time. Transcripts of the libel trial, which were recently discovered more than a hundred years after the event, have enabled a careful reconstruction of Wilde’s prosecution by the Crown for homosexuality.
The play has been witten by John O’Connors and Oscar Wilde’s grandson, the author of Irish Peacock and Scarlet Marquess: The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde, Merlin Holland.
The Trials of Oscar Wilde stars John Gorick (Holby City and understudy for Rowan Atkinson in Quartermaine’s Terms), Rupert Mason (Eastenders, A Touch of Frost) and William Kempsell. It has been directed by Peter Craze (Doctor Who, Blake’s Seven) with lighting design by Duncan Hands and set/costume by Dora Schweitzer.
Merlin Holland says: “I’m delighted to be working with European Arts Company on a dramatised version of the trials of my grandfather, Oscar Wilde. Over the years, there have been a number of attempts to tell the story on stage but none of them has really managed to bring alive the drama of Oscar’s courtroom appearances. This new production shows him fighting for his art as well as his life and we get a real sense of Oscar’s intellect at full stretch – his complexity, wit and deep humanity.”
The Trials of Oscar Wilde can be seen at the Connaught Theatre, Union Place, Worthing. BN11 1LG on July 4th at 7.30pm. Tickets, priced at £16.50, concessions £2 off, Friends £13 can be purchased from the box office on 01903 206 206 or online at www.worthingtheatres.co.uk
