This revival of Micheál Mac Liammóir’s monologue The Importancs of Being Oscar is the latest in a line of solo shows to reach stage and screen this year.
Performed by Original Theatre‘s founder Alastair Whatley, and directed by Michael Fentiman, this production was filmed last month at Reading Rep.
It was originally presented with Wilde as Irish, so focusing on his outcast status as both ‘foreign’ and ‘queer’. Watching Whately’s very English version is a different experience to watching the film of Mac Liammóir.
Here, the blend of extracts, letters, repartee, biography, and poetry are filmed with Original’s usual flair but feel a little one-note without props, set, or much change of emphasis.
However, Whatley and Fentiman do find some moments of humour in the play extracts from The Importance of Being Earnest (Lady Bracknell’s indignant response to Gwendolyn “making an alliance with a parcel”) and An Ideal Husband (Goring’s buttonhole).
The more serious elements are the biographical sequences told to us, quotes from the letters Wilde wrote from prison, and The Ballad of Reading Gaol. These are read well, with a sense of drama, but there’s scope for something more.
The stage is one black disc edged in light, which allows Whately some movement, while the filming and lighting highlight ‘performance’ within performance, tightening our gaze and focusing our interest.
This isn’t a physical performance; indeed, it is almost completely restrained. Formal and very English. The words are the important thing, and of course, Wilde was and is still celebrated for his mastery of language and turn of phrase.
The Importance of Being Oscar is an enjoyable piece of work that allows insight into a complex literary figure and latter-day gay icon. The use of the green carnation, symbol of elegance and rebellion, is inspired.
Original Theatre has made a good stab at exhuming this often perplexing monologue, but it draws back from immersion in Wilde’s reported flair and personality.
The Importance of Being Oscar is available through Original Theatre for members now and on general release from 15 July – details here.
***.5