The Judas Kiss (tour – Brighton, Theatre Royal)

Oscar returns to his sumptuous room in
the Cadogan Hotel, recently vacated by a naked chambermaid and hotel
porter who had taken advantage of the empty bed for some fun and
frolics, where he meets with his friends to ponder upon his next
move.

Already in the room are Wilde’s
friend and ex-lover Robert Ross, played with just the right amount
of desperation and fear by Cal Macaninch and Wilde’s current
“companion” Lord Alfred (Bosie) Douglas. Freddie Fox plays
this part as a very convincing spoilt rich kid, petulant and
childish, self-centred and – ultimately – deceitful.

Ross knows that Wilde should flee the
country to avoid the inevitable prison sentence that he faces, simply
for being homosexual, but Bosie argues that he should stay to defend
his right to love whomever he chooses, although his passionate stance
owes a lot more to a feud with his father, the Marquess of
Queensberry, than to his love for Oscar.

In Act Two the room is now a somewhat
shabby affair in a rented house in Naples. Centre stage sits Wilde,
now a broken figure of a man, nothing more than a shadow of his
former self but still with a steely wit and a talent for delivering
incredibly cutting observations. The loss of his freedom, his wife,
his children and his ability to write, all play heavy on his mind and
leave him with just an empty gaze.

In the room is a small, rickety, bed
where sleeps a naked Bosie, together with his, also naked, new
“friend” and local fisherman. The scene gives just a hint at the
hedonistic lifestyle that Wilde allowed Bosie to live which, in
Wilde’s view, was small sacrifice to keep the object of his love in
his life.

A letter arrives from Bosie’s mother
offering both him and Oscar financial inducements to end their
relationship and, seeing his opportunity to return to his life of
wealth and privilege Bosie sets about convincing Oscar that they
should both accept the generous offer and, after planting the Judas
kiss firmly on Oscar’s lips, he leaves.

The images that hint at Wilde’s
secret life of sexual pleasure appear in both acts with special
mention going to Ben Hardy who opens the piece by frolicking naked
with the chambermaid, and then brazenly offers sexual favours to
Wilde’s former lover Robbie, whilst also agreeing to be “punished”
for his indiscretion by his manager.

Another mention goes to Tom Colley
as the fisherman, Galileo Masconi, who spends half of Act Two naked,
with both men being perfect examples of Wilde’s love of the
well-toned and beautiful male physique. The small cast work
incredibly well together and, topped off by Everett’s magnificent
performance, create a masterpiece of theatre that richly deserves its
West-End transfer.