Another review

Can't seem to find this review online, so here it is in its entirety, with thanks to Stewart Conn for letting me reproduce it here:

AUGUSTINE'S (VENUE 152) 41George IV Bridge ... 4-10, 12-17 Aug 08 7.25pm

Dear Conjunction Theatre Co. presents
MORE LIVES THAN ONE: Oscar Wilde & the Black Douglas
Written and performed by Leslie Clack : Directed by Patricia Kessler


In pools of light are a chaise-longue, a stool and a chair, a table bearing a large tome and on a plant-stand, an elegant vase of flowers. The varied social milieus these signify reveal themselves throughout the action. Similarly, in a series of transformation scenes as seamless as they are mesmerising, Leslie Clack encapsulates the personalities not only of Wilde but of those central to his downfall.

Dramatically conjured up are the malevolent Lord Queensberry, father of Wilde's beloved 'Bosie', and whom he had the folly to sue; and at his trial the implacable Edward Carson, a former friend at Trinity but now an adversarial defence counsel,

As a counterpoint to Wilde's tragic progress comes a crisp mosaic of witticisms and fictional vignettes. Dorian Gray reels back from his portrait. In the classic scene from The Importance Of Being Earnest an aghast Lady Bracknell utters the word, 'handbag'. It is a joy to experience the text's lucid gathering of momentum allied to the poise, insight, impeccable timing and sheer intelligence of Clack's performance. This finds a perfect match in the clarity and pacing of Patricia Kessler's production

As the threads unravel, the play becomes profoundly moving, not least in a letter Wilde's mother wrote after his prison term, begging him – at whatever price – not to leave the country; and a religious order's blunt rejection of his plea for sanctuary. Heightening the emotional impact are the total stillness accompanying The Ballad of Reading Gaol, and the tracing of Wilde's last days, to his death (or the last of his deaths...) in Paris.

The real triumph is that Clack's theatricality never aspires simply to dazzlement for its own sake. We come out indelibly reminded that the grounds on which Wilde (be he good or bad) was persecuted were not moral but basically – and brutally – political.

Stewart Conn
6th Aug 2008