Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moisés Kaufman has arrived at the Virginia Wimberly Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts.  It is a must-see not only for LGBT audiences, but for those who follow sexual politics with interest.This play is produced by Bad Habit Productions.

There’s good news on tickets, too. We have found some half priced discount tickets you can access Click me, just sign in with your email to access them, or you can use our regular ticket link below and pay full price.

Using innovative theater-in-the-round staging, the audience surrounds the actors on the Wimberly stage, which brings the spectator very close to the action of the play and makes for a gripping and compelling experience. Gross Indecency is the first offering in Bad Habit Productions’ Sixth Season: Sex and Politics.  Gross Indecency uses trial transcripts, personal correspondence, interviews and other source materials to tell the story of the downfall of the great man of letters whose artistic genius has long been overshadowed by the scandal surrounding his imprisonment.

“His style was his umbrella, his armor, his all-purpose defense system, and for many years it seemed to shelter Oscar Wilde most effectively. There came a moment, however, in 1895 when the playwright was betrayed by his own wit, after which he would never again be able to gain control of his life. In the absolutely gripping Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, written… with a scintillating style of its own by Moisés Kaufman, that moment is identified with such startling precision and clarity that it feels like the inexorable moment of reversal in a classic tragedy.” —NY Times.

SYNOPSIS:  In early 1895, the Marquess of Queensberry, the father of Wilde’s young lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, left a card at Wilde’s club bearing the phrase “posing somdomite.” Wilde sued the Marquess for criminal libel. The defense denounced Wilde’s art and literature as immoral, leading the prosecuting attorney to declare, “It would appear that what is on trial is not Lord Queensberry but Mr. Wilde’s art!” In the end Queensberry was acquitted, and evidence that had been gathered against Wilde compelled the Crown to prosecute him for “gross indecency with male persons.” With Wilde’s arrest, his hit plays running in London’s West End were forced to close, and Wilde was reduced to penury. A second trial ended in a hung jury with Wilde’s impassioned defense of “the love that dare not speak its name,” prompting a third trial. In the third and decisive trial, Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment at hard labor. He was separated forever from his wife and children, and wrote very little for the rest of his life. In addition to Wilde, Douglas and Queensberry, characters ranging from Queen Victoria to London’s rent boys, to a present-day academic are assembled to explore how history is made and how it can be so timely revisited in the theatre.

FEATURING:

Director: Liz Fenstermaker
Stage Manager: Kevin Parker
Costume Designer: Pamela DeGregorio
Lighting Designer: Erik Fox

Dialect Coach: Susanna Harris Noon

PERFORMANCES:   August 11th – September 2, 2012

TICKETS: 

Ticket Prices: $18 in advance (bostontheatrescene.com or 617-933-8600), $23 day of the show.

And don’t forget the specially priced ticket offer here, there may be seats still left: Click me