A Man of No Importance

Synopsis

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself What happens when our deepest secrets are finally revealed? Dublin bus conductor Alfie Byrne is content reading Oscar Wilde poetry to his passengers and staging plays in his local church. But when forced to confront a lifelong secret, Alfie must learn to face his true nature and finally take a stand in the world. With a powerful story, loveable characters and a stunning score, A Man of No Importance celebrates the genius of Oscar Wilde, the boisterous streets of Dublin, and the bumps along the road to self-discovery.

Our Review:

Simon Cole - 27 April 2013

Terrence McNally’s A Man of No Importance, made into a little known film starring Albert Finney back in 1994, is not an obvious candidate for receiving a musical ‘treatment’ in it’s adaptation for the stage. But this is exactly what Stephen Flaherty (composer) and Lynn Ahrens (lyricist), the team behind Ragtime (along with McNally) and Once on this Island, have done in this charming oddity, now playing at Salisbury Playhouse.

Set in early 1960s Dublin, bus conductor Alfie Byrne, leading light of St Imelda’s Amateur Theatre Company, struggles with life, love and the pursuit of his “art” in a repressive, catholic community. Tired of staging their usual production of The Importance of Being Earnest, Alfie plans to tackle Salome - another, more challenging and decidedly more risqué, work from the pen of his idol Oscar Wilde. Battling to create a work of art, and wrestling with the naivety and dubious acting talents of his cast, Alfie und...

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