Homosexuality appears to have been discovered in May of 1960 when, thanks to a suddenly relaxed Movie Production Code, two quite reputable British films rushed into the marketplace huffing and puffing and telling the same sad story鈥�Oscar Wilde, starring Robert Morley, and The Trials of Oscar Wilde, starring Peter Finch.
Oscar Fingal O鈥橣lahertie Wills Wilde was a 19th century Irish playwright, novelist, essayist and poet鈥攁 torrent of brittle, urbane, witty words that elevated Victorian society鈥攕o it鈥檚 ironic that the one word that brought him down was misspelled.
The premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest on Valentine鈥檚 Day of 1895 made him the toast of Londontown. Four days later, he really was toast. The Marquess of Queensberry, livid that his son (Lord Alfred Douglas, hereafter referred to as 鈥淏osie鈥�) had a sexual relationship with Wilde, left his calling card at Wilde鈥檚 club, the Albemarle, inscribed: 鈥淔or Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite.鈥� Reacting with righteous (if massively misguided!) indignation, Wilde sued Queensberry, who had only to threaten to produce a few male prostitutes in court to prove the truth of his charge and get Wilde sentenced to two years of hard labor in prison for 鈥済ross indecency.鈥�
This is where David Hare begins his 1998 play, The Judas Kiss, now being revived at the BAM Harvey Theatre through June 12. It鈥檚 something of a Before/After snapshot.
Act One finds Wilde holed up at a swank suite in London鈥檚 Cadogan Hotel, awaiting arrest, waving away the advice of his former lover and loyal friend, Robbie Ross, to flee the country while he can. Act Two finds him broken into bits by prison, resuming his affair with the unfaithful and unworthy 鈥淏osie鈥� in a rundown hotel near Naples.
鈥淚 love this play,鈥� admits Rupert Everett, who stars. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful and very moving and very intuitive portrait of a character鈥攁 prose poem about Oscar Wilde. If you鈥檙e any kind of die-hard Wilde fan, that April afternoon in the hotel is an iconic moment. What went on there, why didn鈥檛 he leave鈥攖hose are riveting, historical questions.鈥�
Everett, who was one year old when Morley and Finch were in movie houses waging the Wilde war that here is fought during intermission, isn鈥檛 the same dashing and strapping matinee-idol who Broadway-debuted seven years ago in Blithe Spirit.
鈥淲别濒濒, this helps,鈥� he trumpets late in the interview, pulling down his bulky sweater to reveal a chest of foam rubber. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my fat suit. I haven鈥檛 gone to seed that 尘耻肠丑.鈥�
Add some false teeth, a flowing wig, stoop posturing and vintage costumes, and voila! it鈥檚 the Oscar of old鈥攃ertainly, closer than others who鈥檝e played the part.
That, he has made a study of. 鈥淚n the cinema they were all favorites of mine, for different reasons. Robert Morley鈥檚 was one of the great ones. I loved Peter Finch鈥檚, but, like Stephen Fry鈥檚, his leaned toward the family-values version of Oscar.鈥� Liam Neeson, who brought The Judas Kiss to Broadway, while 鈥渁 brilliant actor,鈥� was 鈥渁 heavyweight Oscar, and you need a lightweight to move fast across the ideas.鈥�
There are those who say Everett isn鈥檛 right for the role, too. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the reason I鈥檓 doing this play. I wrote a screenplay about Oscar鈥檚 last days eight years ago, and people would say, 鈥極h, I can鈥檛 see you doing Oscar,鈥� so I remembered David鈥檚 play and organized this production to show people I can do it. It鈥檚 been very useful.鈥�
Critics were quick to concur. They鈥檝e been strewing rosebuds at him from London to Toronto to Brooklyn, but does he know it? The question triggers a favorite Judi Dench anecdote: 鈥淛udi swans into the theatre, and people say, 鈥楥ongratulations on the reviews. Have you read them?鈥� She says, 鈥楴o, but I hear they鈥檙e mah-velous.鈥欌赌�
Evidently, his notices were equally encouraging. He starts shooting his Wilde movie in September in Germany, France, Italy and Belgium, directing it himself, with a cast that includes Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson and Tom Wilkinson. It鈥檚 called The Happy Prince, after a Wilde children鈥檚 story his mother read to him.
His fascination with the writer started there. 鈥淭he thing about historical characters like Oscar鈥攚hich makes reading and learning history quite complicated鈥攊s that they are what you want them to be after they鈥檙e dead. For example, all the biographies of Marie-Antoinette written by men up until the 鈥�70s were very against her. Then Nancy Mitford wrote a book about her, and suddenly you see a woman鈥檚 angle, and it鈥檚 different. Then, Antonia Fraser writes about her, and you see more of a woman鈥檚 angle. Oscar鈥檚 the same. For me, I feel that I understand him completely, and鈥攊t鈥檚 perhaps my own thing鈥擨 see him as a kind of Christ figure, in a way.
鈥淎s a gay person, particularly at my age, I believe that the gay movement started with Oscar Wilde. The thing that was talked about or dealt with or debated by society in general鈥攖he road we鈥檙e still traveling now鈥攊s very much one that he started. The Oscar Wilde scandal, the tragedy of his exile, started that, so his death is very much like Christ鈥檚 because, first of all, he was crucified and then immortalized.鈥�
