Reading Gaol

The Ballad of Reading Gaol was the poet and writer Oscar Wilde’s final work. From celebrated playwright and society figure to a broken man dying in exile in Paris, Reading Gaol is a heartrending exploration of the deprivation of liberty, a spectacular fall from grace and a soul-searching quest to hold onto the shreds of humanity during one man’s darkest hour. This adaptation of Reading Gaol uses the power and grotesque beauty of Wilde’s words to tell the story of the punishment and deprivation experienced by prisoners at the turn of the century in direct contrast to the wit and triviality of some of his comedic work. Featuring Wilde’s original poem about the execution of a convicted solider remixed with five brand new pieces of writing and physical theatre commissioned for this production, we plunge headlong into the abyss of incarceration, despair and hope experienced by five prisoners in one of England’s most notorious jails. From the grime of Victorian England to the Forests of Africa and back, this production tells a story which goes from the depths of one man’s black heart to the brightest hopes of another in a hopeless quest for salvation.