The action of 'YOUNG OSCAR' turns on a little known five days in March, 1882, when a brash, 26 year-old Wilde caused a sensation with his outrageous manner, while delivering five sold-out lectures at Platt's Hall in San Francisco.  The play is a weaving of actual and imagined,  collected from interviews in newspapers, books about Wilde, and devised from improvisations.  I made research at libraries and sites in The City and did one year of development / fifteen performances - with actor Luke Webb and fiddle player Ian Ackerman, in Istanbul in 2014.  

 

‘YOUNG OSCAR' attempts to capture the spark of Wilde's remarkable presence, and portrays a little known aspect of his life that has connections to our contemporary political and cultural moment.  For San Francisco, the play runs about fifty-three minutes with recorded sounds/music.  To those who know Wilde, perhaps who watched a film about him, read (or pretended to read) 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' or saw 'Salome,' this play will seem at once familiar but unknown, giving new perspective to peoples' understanding of this artists' much loved works.​  Oscar Wilde is part of the western canon of world literature, his life and work remains relevant to people today; a hundred years later his works are still often reprinted, studied and produced. 

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