Actor Is Seldom Tired Of Oscar Wilde

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30479, 29 June 1964, Page 14

Actor Is Seldom Tired Of Oscar Wilde

The famous Irish actor, Micheal McLiammoir, sometimes tires of Oscar Wilde, but never for long. “He is like some music and some people,” Mr McLiammoir said in Christchurch last evening. “You think at times that you have had enough of them, but after 10 minutes, in their company you’re charmed with them again,” Mr McLiammoir has immersed himself in the life and work of Oscar Wilde, and compiled a recital called “The Importance of Being Oscar,” which he will give in the Repertory Theatre every night this week, concluding on Saturday.

Already Mr McLiammoir finds himself enchanted with New Zealand audiences. He found Auckland theatre-goers were good to play to and, most important, saw the point of all the jokes.

“Wilde’s humour is irresistible if you understand it," he said. “It is deeply sophisticated, but old-fashioned. I mean old-fashioned in the way that a rose or a Viennese waltz is old-fashioned. Wilde will always be like that —all elegance and charm.

“His life is a dramatic story,” said Mr McLiammoir. “He was the most scandalous figure in the arts of any age.” In the recital, poems, scenes from Wilde’s plays—including the famous “Picture of Dorian Gray”—and Wilde's conviction, prison sentence, and later work are linked together by a commentary written by Mr McLiammoir. “I don’t imitate Wilde at all,” he said. “I try to interpret him, except for the occasional quote when 1 endeavour to put on his manner.”

Mr McLiammoir has made several television films based on this recital, and when he returns to Dublin he will make a complete film, in colour, with scenes associated with Wilde’s life superimposed. Then he will return to the Gate Theatre with his partner, Hilton Edwards, and prepare a new Irish play for the Dublin Festival in October. Later he plans another oneman show—a portrait of Ireland called “I Must Be Talking To My Friends."