“I have put my genius into my life- I have put only my talent into my works.”
– Oscar Wilde (Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray) With his flamboyantly outsized personality and dazzling literary gifts, the Irish born writer ‘s life and works continue to influence and inspire…
The Importance of Being Earnest:
A hugely entertaining adaptation of Wilde’s signature comedy with a brilliant cast including Rupert Everett, Colin Firth and Judy Dench.
A Man of No Importance
Albert Finney stars as a closeted, Oscar Wilde- loving bus driver in 1963 Dublin battling local church authorities to stage an amateur production of Wilde’s Salome. A sleeper hit with wonderful performances by Finney and Brenda Fricker. It also inspired a successful off- Broadway musical adaptation in 2003 (with book by Terence McNally).
The Selfish Giant
A contemporary re-imagining inspired by Wilde’s children’s story where director Clio Barnard has set her award winning film in the hard scrabble West Yorkshire town of Bradford following the story of two, outcast but determined young boys. Nominated for Best British Film at BAFTA in 2014.
The Happy Prince
A powerful but sad film depicting the final days of Oscar Wilde- a shunned, penniless and broken man living in Paris after his release from two years hard labor in Reading Gaol, convicted of “gross indecency”. Everett (who also wrote and directed) gives a superb, touching but also unflinching performance as Wilde. Colin Firth and Emily Watson also star.
