The Judas Kiss

Synopsis

Portrait of the fall from grace of Oscar Wilde. Focussing on two critical moments - the eve of his arrest and one night after his release from two years imprisonment.

Our Review:

Barbara Maxwell - 22 October 2012

The Judas Kiss tells the story of two specific incidents in the life of the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde – brilliantly portrayed by Rupert Everett.

The first incident takes place in the Cadogan Hotel in London in 1895, just after the after the collapse of his libel suit against the Marquess of Queensberry: We see Wilde basically trapped in his hotel room with his lover Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie), played by Freddie Fox. Both common sense and his loyal friend Robert Ross (Cal Macaninch) urge him to flee to France to avoid arrest, but Wilde is determined that he will not go. Whether this was to make a stand against the laws of the time or not is debatable, and not made clear from the play.

The second incident is set in Naples, two years later, after Wilde’s release from prison. He seems to have become a shadow of his former self, unable to write, and content to just sit in his chair and watch the sunset. We then gradually see the heart ...

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