Soulpepper/De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail, adapted and directed by Gregory Prest, lyrics by Sarah Wilson, music by Mike Ross, Young Centre for the Arts, to Feb. 23. Tickets here.
De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail is a triumph of style and substance.
When the structure of this play with music is analyzed, its many component parts reveal a clever merging of ideas that, on paper, make odd theatrical bedfellows. That everything works to create a compelling stage production is a testament to the immense imagination of the creators.
It should also be noted from the start that the great actor/singer Damian Atkins breathes exquisite life into the character of Wilde, to give the show its heart and soul.
It should also be noted that Wilde was at the height of his fame when his problems began with the Marquess of Queensberry that led to his imprisonment. Two of his greatest plays, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, were both on the London stage, but being sent to prison effectively ended his career.
At the heart of the play is the letter, De Profundis, that Wilde wrote in 1897 from Reading Gaol to his erstwhile lover, Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie). Wilde was serving a two-year term with hard labour for gross indecency, homosexuality being illegal at the time. The title, De Profundis, was given to this letter by Wilde’s friend and literary executor, the journalist Robert Ross (Robbie), and is taken from the opening line of Psalm 130. (Out of the depths, I cry to you Oh Lord.)
Wilde was allowed to write one page a day by the prison governor “for medicinal purposes”, and these pages were collected every night. The letter was written over a span of three months. When Wilde was finally released, he was given the completed letter, which he turned over to Ross, before leaving England for the continent. Ross first used the title De Profundis when he published the letter in 1905, five years after Wilde’s death.
It would have been so easy to just create a script out of the words of De Profundis alone, but that is not what Soulpepper is presenting. Rather, in the hands of adaptor/director Gregory Prest, De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail, is much, much more than the letter itself, and as a result, we have a deeper insight into Wilde’s character.
Obviously, quotes from De Profundis figure prominently in the play, but many other elements come together to make for a richer experience. Voice-over extracts from Wilde’s various trials, six original songs, original writing to further the narrative, a projection component, a broad touch of satire, modern anachronisms galore, breaking the fourth wall, bizarre elements of humour, plus commentary from Robbie (Jonathan Corkal-Astorga) and Bosie (Colton Curtis) — are all features that gild the lily, so to speak, with Corkal-Astorga providing the live musical accompaniment.
The clever original songs are fascinating because each is written in a particular style, but a style that suits the moment. For example, there’s a humorous cockney music hall clone, a rap number, an Irish ballad, a torch song, and another that sounds suspiciously like it could have been penned by Jacques Brel. These songs by lyricist Sarah Wilson and composer/arranger Mike Ross add enormous interest to the play.
Because the fourth wall is broken, and Atkins speaks directly to us, he brings the audience on side immediately. We share in the laughter and the sorrow. The function of Robbie is to be the reality check, meaning, he is the facts and figures man, giving us the truth that Wilde, at times, tries to hide. Bosie is the imagined glorious lover, and his role has a strong dance element, making him a figure of lyrical grace. Bringing in these two other characters is another clever element of the show.
As stated, Atkins is simply superb as he presents his rollercoaster of an intense emotional journey. Wilde began writing the letter because of Bosie’s silence, and the beginning is a searing indictment of his vain and shallow lover, but then the tone shifts into the spiritual awakening Wilde experienced which makes up the latter pages of De Profundis.
Lorenzo Savoini has outdone himself with the glorious set. When the audience enters, we are looking at an elaborate floral still life in a gilt frame. Once the play begins, we see Wilde’s narrow cell revealed behind the painting. Savoini is also responsible for the lighting which is masterful in pinpointing key areas of the stage that also uses clever projections by Frank Donato. The final image is another still life, and so we get the lavish and the lush (associated with Wilde’s glamorous lifestyle), contrasted with the raw starkness of prison.
Ming Wong has once again provided perfect period costumes for Robbie and Bosie, and prison garb for Wilde (although the pattern on the latter is rather strange, looking like little bells).
In the final analysis, Prest, Wilson and Ross have collectively created a stunning piece of theatre in De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail, that goes far beyond the words of a letter.
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