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:

Theo Bosanquet - 13 September 2012

There aren't many Victorian writers you can say with certainty would feel totally at home in the current culture of celebrity, but Oscar Wilde is one of them. In a touching programme note, the author's grandson Mervin Holland writes that Wilde "cast a rainbow of forbidden colours over that drab age of industrial power and empire building" - and it's a rainbow that still shines brightly over a century after his death.

In this 1998 play, here thoughtfully revived by director Neil Armfield, David Hare centres on two key moments in Wilde's later years to explore the idea that the great man was a victim of the selfish motivations of his homme fatale, Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas.

The first act takes place at the Cadogan hotel during the short window between Wilde's infamous court case against Bosie's father and his subsequent arrest. Having refused to sully his prominent lover's...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 12 October 2012:

The story of Oscar Wilde's downfall is a familiar one but David Hare shines a fascinating light on his tragedy with an imagining of the hours leading up to his arrest whilst holed up in a sumptuous room at the Cadogan Hotel. Wilde's reckless determination to press on on his self-destructive path is superbly conveyed although there is no real illumination of his motives other than a horribly misplaced devotion to the repellent Lord Alfred Douglas. The second half, with Wilde exiled in Naples, is less successful as it is mostly static and Wilde's fate has already been sealed. Rupert Everett manages to resemble Wilde more than I had thought possible and Hare wisely doesn't attempt to match his epigrammatic genius. Everett is also extremely good at conveying rare glimpses of the true horror of his situation and his genuine devotion to his children with whom he was denied contact. Freedie Fox is ideal casting as the petulant, self-obsessed Bosie although he somehow makes him less repulsive than the real thing. There is also a lot of nudity, fortunately including the pneumatic Kirsty Oswald but luckily not Mr Everett. I can understand why this has now announced a West End transfer even though it's slightly inferior to Hampstead's last biographical play, The Last Duchess. ...

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