The Judas Kiss - Richmond Theatre
How wonderful to be back in the Richmond Theatre. Relaxed, friendly and steeped in Victorian opulence, this theatre has old-fashioned charm, fine acoustics, and good seats - what more could you want?
A play with Rupert Everett and Freddie Fox is a good start and their current performances in The Judas Kiss are outstanding. Everett plays Oscar Wilde and Fox his devoted but eventual perfidious lover in this revival of the play which was rather sniffed at when it premiered in London in 1998. The first production featured Liam Neeson as Wilde and was directed by Richard Eyre so one wonders why it wasn’t an outright triumph, but it is a very wordy play with little action and in the wrong hands it could lumber along.
It needs poke and panache and Everett and the cast in this new production deliver with confidence and energy, even down to the butler, waiter and chambermaid who introduce humour and warmth in the first act, set in the Cadogan Hotel in 1895.
Wilde is avoiding the public following the collapse of his libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. He faces arrest and inevitable imprisonment but has the chance to escape to exile, aided by his former lover Robbie Ross, brilliantly played with devoted and quiet restraint by Cal MacAnich. Everett, with his towering stature and strong features, convincingly portrays the lumbering Wilde, teasing and frustrating his friends with his apparent nonchalence about his fate, his desire to enjoy lobster for lunch and his obsessive delight in giving the hotel staff generous tips.
In contrast to Everett’s lumbering Wilde, Freddie Fox as Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, is like an excited puppy, eager to please and full of optimism. With wonderfully clear diction and great energy, this role could have been written for Fox. He uses the whole stage, moving around his often static lover, getting energy and different moods from hidden corners or the light from a window. I was enthralled by the Neil Armfield’s ingenious direction, squeezing every ounce of potential from a simple yet glorious set and employing occasional slowness of pace to give poignancy, but never tedium.
David Hare’s script is wordy but wise - so many wonderful observations and thoughts spill from Wilde’s lips and Everett delivers them faultlessly. For the whole of Act 2 he sits heavily in his chair in a Naples guesthouse, while Bosie flirts and cavorts with his new lover, an Italian fisherman with a scant wardrobe. Observing with fond interest, Wilde ruminates on his life and his fate and we listen intently to his every word until he finally heaves himself to his feet to bid farewell to his beloved Bosie. Left alone in his room, settled once again in his chair, Wilde is shrouded in a leaden coat of despair. His despondency permeates through the theatre and, as a single light fades, we wonder if he will ever find the strength to move again.
The Judas Kiss is at The Duke of Yorks, London from January 9th 2013
