THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS
AIRDATE: January 31, 2003
It has all the
makings of Greek tragedy. A mighty man with more than a touch of hubris, helps
to bring about his own downfall and destruction. The year was 1895. London.
Oscar Wilde was on top of his game -- a wealthy, renowned dandy, novelist, poet
and playwright. It was the year he wrote "The Importance of Being
Earnest." He was the Irish darling of English society -- until it came to
a question of principle -- and morality.
Celebrities in
the spotlight, as we see daily in the news, often feel privileged, entitled,
and above the law. In the court of public opinion, they feel they will always
be acquitted. This may have been Problem #1 for Oscar Wilde. Problem #2 was
that his prickly issues concerned sexual preference and practices. When he
filed a libel suit against the Marquess of Queensbury, father to his young
lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, he began a vengeful proceeding that careened out of
control and resulted in his own arrest and imprisonment, impoverishment and
devastation. It was an ugly chapter in English and world history, but one that
has by no means been erased. The hypocritical, homophobic book has never been
closed. Working from courtroom transcripts, memoirs and journalistic
commentary, Moisés Kaufman, head of the Tectonic Theatre Company, created
"Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde." Since the whole
affair became a perverse caricature of the legal system, he structured the
piece as an English Music Hall presentation, with Wilde as the headliner and
star performer. The play garnered acclaim in New York in 1997 and it set the
stage for the docudrama style that reached its pinnacle in Kaufman's
"Laramie Project," so radiantly re-created last year at the La Jolla
Playhouse.
Now, most
appropriately, Diversionary Theatre, San Diego's outstanding, ever-evolving
gay-lesbian performing company, has taken on "Gross Indecency" and
given its all. This is a problematic piece, extremely wordy and protracted. To
counterbalance the verbosity, director Rosina Reynolds has chosen to have
everything move at breakneck speed, which gives the production a breathless and
frenetic feel. The more simple, focused and contemplative original production
served the piece better. Nonetheless, Farhang Pernoon is luminous, as the smug,
clever and brilliantly witty Wilde, who gradually crumbles before our eyes.
Angelo D'Agostino-Wilimek is aptly petulant as young Douglas, who encouraged
the legal battle to get back at his estranged father, a volatile, vindictive
paranoid, impeccably played by Douglas Ireland. The rest of the cast is
malleable but less memorable. The set and costumes perfectly portray the
period, but alas, the story remains glaringly, painfully relevant today.
I'm Pat Launer, for KPBS news.
©2003
Patté Productions Inc.