MACT

By Steven LaVigne

People often think that whatever Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) wrote was instant gold for the playwright. This isn’t the case. His first two plays, Vera, or The Nihilists and The Duchess of Padua were failures, and his notorious adaptation of Salome had yet to find a producer willing to take a chance on the material. He decided to write a comedy while summering in the Lake District, where he met Robert Ross, who became his literary executor. Inspired by the landscape, he write Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Play About a Good Woman which opened on 20 February 1892 at the St. James Theater in London.
A sophisticated comedy about marriage, several of the characters are named for locations in the area: Lake Windermere and the towns of Berwick-upon-Tweed and Darlington. When actor-manager George Alexander, who would create the role of Lord Windermere, agreed to present the play, he and Wilde focusing on important details and continually improving the script even after its premiere. Along with Alexander as Lord Windermere, the cast included Ben Webster, Lily Hanbury and Marion Terry, whose sister was the renowned Ellen Terry.
Wilde’s theater career was short-lived (only 4 years), the success of Lady Windermere’s Fan led to A Woman of No Importance (produced by CLFTC in 2019), An Ideal Husband (produced by CLFTC in 2017) and The Importance of Being Earnest (produced by Corcoran Park Players in 1988). In 1895, after the Marquess of Queensberry charged Wilde with gross indecency, disgusted over Wilde’s relationship with his son, Lord Alfred Douglas, Wilde was sentenced to two years in prison, he was released. He documented his experience in the poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
Following his release from prison, Robert Ross convinced Wilde to relocate to France. His health weakened by prison conditions, he developed meningitis, from which he passed away on 30 November 1900. Originally buried at Cemetery de Bagneux outside Paris, sculptor Jacob Einstein created an art deco Egyptian angel, commissioned by Robert Ross and his remains were transferred to Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. When his remains were exhumed, it was found that his hair and fingernails had grown. In 1950, Ross’s ashes were interred with Wilde’s.