Set in Paris in 1898, Will Govan plays an exiled Oscar
Wilde looking back on his extraordinarily colourful life and ruminating on
love, fame, family and misfortune with his infamous wit and irreverence in this
hilarious but ultimately tragic story of a life.
The play draws on Wilde’s letters, essays and anecdotes
to bring this literary genius to life in a 60-minute performance which will appeal
as much to those who know little about the man as it will to those who admire
his work.
This play has delighted audiences in hundreds of venues
across the world, including the USA, Canada, India, Hong Kong, Uruguay,
Zimbabwe, Bahrain and Ethiopia.
‘Titley balances Wilde’s almost dutiful humour with an unsentimental portrayal
of his suffering in Reading Gaol, his bitter perception of man’s inhumanity to
man. He also captures his character’s dignity in despair and the comedy makes
the heartbreak of Wilde’s life even more poignant. It is a most moving effect.’
Evening Standard
‘Funny
and melancholic.’ The Times
‘A
hugely entertaining piece of theatre, bringing to the fore the irresistible
genius of Wilde.’ Financial Times, India
‘Delightfully
entertaining.’ The Cornishman
‘Lovingly
conjures a man exiled by a society that once lionised him.’ South China
Morning Post
‘Charming
and witty.’ Irish Times
‘Fine
and genuinely moving.’ Festival Times, Edinburgh
‘I found
myself finding out more about Wilde than any lecturer in an entire semester of
school could teach. A highly intelligent piece of writing that I would gladly
recommend.’ Ontario Arts Review
WILL GOVAN grew up in the UK, where he acted in
several Shakespeare productions before choosing to study portrait painting at
the Heatherley School of Fine Art in London. He is an artist and co-founder of
The Moth. After a hiatus of seven years, in which he interviewed the likes of
Colm Tobin, Sally Rooney and Anne Enright for The Moth magazine, he is
returning to his first love, reviving the award-winning Moth Productions
theatre company to take on the role of Oscar Wilde in Work is the Curse of
the Drinking Classes.
NEIL TITLEY was born in
Inverness in Scotland. An actor and writer, he spent his theatrical career
concentrating on solo shows. He performed Work is the Curse of the Drinking
Classes over 700 times in five continents before retiring in 2017. His play
on George Bernard Shaw, Shaw’s Corner, was televised in over twenty
countries. He is the author of The Oscar Wilde World of Gossip: A Subversive
Encycolpaedia of Victorian Anecdote.
REBECCA O'CONNOR is an author and co-founder of
The Moth. She was a member of the QUB Drama Society, where she produced several
plays. Her work has been shortlisted for the Irish Times Strong Shine Award and
the Kate O’Brien Award, and she was awarded the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize by
Poetry Review. Her debut novel He Is Mine and I Have No Other was published BY Canongate in
2018: ‘A remarkable account of adolescent love in the 1990s, backlit by the
true story of 35 children who burned to death in a Cavan orphanage 50 years
earlier’ (Critics Choice, Irish Independent).
