Writer: Micheál MacLiammóir
Director: Michael Fentiman
A rapid volley of laugh-out-loud jokes and bitter betrayals, The Importance of Being Oscar balances comedy and tragedy with quivering precision. Written by Micheál MacLiammóir in 1960, this stage biography of Oscar Wilde weaves extracts from the Irish writer’s work into a rollercoaster monologue. It carries the audience from fashionable London dinner parties to the shadows of Reading Gaol.
The first half romps entertainingly through Wilde’s first four decades as poet, novelist, playwright, aesthete, lover and wit; the second half is more sombre but no less compelling. There’s a long poignant extract from Wilde’s philosophical prison letter De Profundis and the whole of his simple, startling final poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol. He was arrested, convicted and imprisoned in 1895 under homophobic laws that were not fully repealed until the twenty-first century.
Not staged in London since 1997, The Importance of Being Oscar provides hypnotic drama, ripe for revival. Alastair Whatley plays Wilde and all the other characters too, recreating friends and critics, lords and butlers, Lady Bracknell’s imperious inquisition and Jack Worthing’s quickfire answers. Whatley’s pacy delivery and comic timing capture the nimble spirit of The Importance of Being Earnest that was so strangely lacking in the National Theatre’s production earlier this year.
Directed by Michael Fentiman, this is a near-perfect performance from a versatile actor. The tiny space and minimalist staging generally make the show feel concentrated rather than static. The only prop is Wilde’s symbolic green carnation, variously brandished or tucked into the buttonhole of Whatley’s auburn three-piece suit. The economical set consists of two glowing hoops, one ringing the stage and one framing the actor.
In the first half, there’s a baroque tasselled lamp; in the second a stool. Set and costumes are designed by Madeleine Girling, who gracefully leaves room for Chris Davey’s mood-shifting lighting and Barnaby Race’s discreet sound design. All are powerfully effective. The misty air even seems to be tinged with the scent of lilies as Wilde invents, rather than echoes, an elegant modernity.
The play opens with Wilde’s poem Helas! The verses become fraught with further layers of meaning in the light of the poet’s unfolding biography: “To drift with every passion till my soul/ Is a stringed lute on which all winds can play…” The script is a tapestry of Wildean verses and aphorisms. “I have no wish to pose as being ordinary,” he says and later, on entering America, that he has “nothing to declare but my genius”. Wilde’s entertaining account of his Salt Lake audience of miners is embroidered with homoerotic detail.
The Importance of Being Oscar presents the irresistibly witty rise of Wilde, but also the scandalous injustice of his downfall. The first and last words in the show are spoken by MacLiammóir himself, who recorded The Importance of Being Oscar in the 1960s and was, at the time, one of the few openly gay men in Ireland. A programme essay by Simon Callow describes listening to the record in his bedroom, then meeting the playwright, whom Callow describes as “living history”. This revivified piece of theatre animates the virtuosic shades of both Wilde and MacLiammóir while creating an absorbing new show.
Runs until 19 April 2025
