The Judas Kiss

Much has been said and written about Oscar Wilde. So much so that the received knowledge of the man is very much fixed in a fedora-wearing swaggering beast dispensing brilliant one-liners with supreme arrogance. Much of that may be true, but this is not what David Hare’s play is about. Here we see Wilde at two pivotal moments in his life where, due to his own obstinacy, circumstances defeat him. The wit is still there, the arrogance and swagger, but here is a broken man.

Rupert Everett captures this with absolute precision, the brilliance surfacing through the defeat to remind us of how far from grace Wilde fell. Infuriatingly arrogant one minute he is a blubbering wreck, the next bemoaning the loss of his children. He reveals the complexity of emotions that a man in his position and at the time in history must have felt. He is losing everything and for what?

Freddie Fox plays Bosie as equal in arrogance to Wilde, but not in talent and he does this well. The attraction of the character is clear but it soon becomes apparent that Bosie will use Wilde against his father to his own ends. Cal Macaninch plays Robbie Ross, Wilde’s first love and the constant and loyal factor in Wilde’s life. There to try and steer him to making better decisions and still there when he fails.

At the end Everett shows us a Wilde stripped of dignity, destroyed by his time in Reading Gaol, exiled, penniless and infamous, and at last perhaps aware of his own contribution to his downfall.

Beautifully staged and with excellent supporting roles, The Judas Kiss sees Everett give the performance of a lifetime – so far.

Theatre Royal Brighton, 5 November 2012

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