Simon Callow to perform De Profundis in the West End

Simon Callow will perform Oscar Wilde's De Profundis at the Vaudeville Theatre in January.

Adapted by Frank McGuinness, the show is based on Wilde's 50,000-word letter written while he was imprisoned in Reading Gaol between January and March 1897. It details the writer's life and experiences while being persecuted for his lifestyle and habits.

Callow's recent stage credits include Being Shakespeare and Inside Wagner's Head. He is also known for his screen roles including Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shakespeare in Love. He is no stranger to Wilde, having written Oscar Wilde and His Circle, a character sketchbook for the National Portrait Gallery, examining the artistic taste of the poet and playwright.

The piece will be directed by Mark Rosenblatt, in an abridged form written by McGuinness, who described De Profundis as 'Wilde’s last great play'.

The show, which runs for just six performances, will come between the end of Dominic Dromgoole's A Woman of No Importance and Kathy Burke's Lady Windermere's Fan (with a guest appearance from Jennifer Saunders), as part of Classic Spring's Wilde season at the Vaudeville Theatre.

De Profundus runs at the Vaudeville Theatre from 3 to 6 January.