The Judas Kiss

[edjames]

Limited run...closes June 12, now at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, on discounts.

 

Starring open gay Brit actor Rupert Everett, this revival of the 1998 play starring Liam Neeson is being revived at BAM.

 

In the first act of the play, Wilde's spoiled and impetuous young lover Bosie has succeeded in instigating Wilde to sue Bosie's father in court for insulting him as a "somdomite". The loss of the suit opens the way for Wilde being criminally indicted for gross indecency. Wilde has government permission to flee the country to avoid arrest, trial, and imprisonment, but the childish Bosie insists that he stay and defend their honour.

 

The second act shows Wilde doing the one thing his friends wanted him to avoid, namely reuniting with the unbelievably selfish Bosie after his difficult two-year incarceration. Wilde, a broken man, is holed up in exile from the UK in a rat-infested hotel in Naples.

 

I wasn't impressed with the original (God forgive me!) but I find the play difficult, in that, it is hard to understand Wilde's motives. Is it ego? Is it his love for Bosie? Whatever, the play is compeling and Everett, decked out in a "fat suit" and makeup makes for a good Wilde.

 

Of note is the generous dose of male nudity in this play. In scene 1, Act 1, the cute young hotel servant, Arthur (played by Elliot Balchin) is seen doing the chamber maid in Wilde's hotel room before his arrival and when discovered there's a lovely view of well...everything. Later in Act 2 Wilde's boy toy, Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie) is in bed with a handsome, studly Italian named Galileo (actor Tom Colley). Galileo proudly struts the stage throughout most of the first act butt naked showing off his worldly goods, while Bosie prances around draped in a bed sheet!

 

Here's what Ben Brantley had to say:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/18/theater/review-rupert-everett-brings-oscar-wilde-to-the-stage-in-the-judas-kiss.html

 

 

[MscleLovr]

I really enjoyed this production, seeing it twice in London 3 years ago. The gorgeous Tom Colley is a young English actor and he has a very good Italian accent. I've seen him in various other plays where luckily he has performed semi-naked or in brief underwear.