Thursday, August 11, 2005
Gross Indecency, Oh Joy!
I was a lawyer in a previous life, and so legal dramas have always had a particular fascination for me. And I'm a huge Oscar Wilde fan, and hope there are many plays, movies and puppet shows about his life and works ("The only duty we owe to history is to rewrite it," as Wilde would say). So I am very much looking forward to "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde," which the H Street Playhouse NE is presenting. I have not been often to the H Street Playhouse, but each time I've gone I've been pleased I made the trip into the unknown wilderness of Northeast Washington.
The play, which I saw in New York several years ago, examines many aspects of Oscar Wilde's trials that many plays about Wilde's life must ignore in favor of showing many other aspects of this wonderfully complicated man: an Irishman in England; a Catholic in a Protestant country; a wit poking fun at the people who feed him and whose approval he desperately craves. The play concentrates on Wilde in the witness box, and on the legal decisions he made that kept him there for THREE trials, the first of which he brought himself.
As I recall, much of the play consists of Wilde's testimony, which is fascinating--boy, he could knit words together like no one else, and skewer people while getting them to laugh. He discovered his homosexuality late in life, and I think he felt he had been accepted by English society by then, which was a fatal error. Below is the schedule.
GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS of OSCAR WILDE
by Moises Kaufman
directed by Jeremy Skidmore
August 18 - September 18, 2005
"If you think you've seen this play before, you haven't." [Wendy: Hmmm--I liked the play the first time I saw it. Well, what is theater but the same words and actions presented in different ways?]
"If you'venever seen this play before, now is the time." [Wendy: It is true that homophobia is very much with us, alas, and not only thanks to the religious right, but because many ordinary people do not challenge the religious right and its place in High Society effectively].
...The father of a revolution, the center of three trials that changed the world forever, & the rock star of his generation. Featuring Kevin Boggs, Chance Carroll, Cooper D'Ambrose, Chris Davenport, Jason Lott, Eric Messner, Scott McCormick,Andrew Pastides, Alexander Strain, Dan Via, and GradyWeatherford
Pay-What You-Can performances: Thurs 18 @ 8pm, Fri 19 @ 8pm, and Sun 21 @ 2pm, August 2005
Regular Performance Schedule:Thurs & Fri, 8:00 pmSat, 2:00 pm & 8:00 pmSun, 2:00 pmno matinee 8/20 Tickets: $25 For regular tickets call 1-800-494-8497 or order on-line athttp://www.theateralliance.com/
All performances at theH Street Playhouse1365 H Street NEDC Info call: 396-0050E-mail: info@theateralliance.com
The play, which I saw in New York several years ago, examines many aspects of Oscar Wilde's trials that many plays about Wilde's life must ignore in favor of showing many other aspects of this wonderfully complicated man: an Irishman in England; a Catholic in a Protestant country; a wit poking fun at the people who feed him and whose approval he desperately craves. The play concentrates on Wilde in the witness box, and on the legal decisions he made that kept him there for THREE trials, the first of which he brought himself.
As I recall, much of the play consists of Wilde's testimony, which is fascinating--boy, he could knit words together like no one else, and skewer people while getting them to laugh. He discovered his homosexuality late in life, and I think he felt he had been accepted by English society by then, which was a fatal error. Below is the schedule.
GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS of OSCAR WILDE
by Moises Kaufman
directed by Jeremy Skidmore
August 18 - September 18, 2005
"If you think you've seen this play before, you haven't." [Wendy: Hmmm--I liked the play the first time I saw it. Well, what is theater but the same words and actions presented in different ways?]
"If you'venever seen this play before, now is the time." [Wendy: It is true that homophobia is very much with us, alas, and not only thanks to the religious right, but because many ordinary people do not challenge the religious right and its place in High Society effectively].
...The father of a revolution, the center of three trials that changed the world forever, & the rock star of his generation. Featuring Kevin Boggs, Chance Carroll, Cooper D'Ambrose, Chris Davenport, Jason Lott, Eric Messner, Scott McCormick,Andrew Pastides, Alexander Strain, Dan Via, and GradyWeatherford
Pay-What You-Can performances: Thurs 18 @ 8pm, Fri 19 @ 8pm, and Sun 21 @ 2pm, August 2005
Regular Performance Schedule:Thurs & Fri, 8:00 pmSat, 2:00 pm & 8:00 pmSun, 2:00 pmno matinee 8/20 Tickets: $25 For regular tickets call 1-800-494-8497 or order on-line athttp://www.theateralliance.com/
All performances at theH Street Playhouse1365 H Street NEDC Info call: 396-0050E-mail: info@theateralliance.com
