Alastair Whatley on Bringing Oscar Wilde to Life in The Importance of Being Oscar

Ahead of the Park Theatre run, Alastair Whatley discusses inhabiting Oscar Wilde, honouring Micheál Mac Liammóir’s remarkable play and why THIS story still resonates

Oscar Wilde has become a cultural icon, his epigrams endlessly quoted and his plays firmly embedded in the theatrical canon. Yet The Importance of Being Oscar looks beyond the familiar public image to explore the contradictions, triumphs and tragedies of the man himself. Originally created and performed more than 600 times by the enigmatic Irish theatre-maker Micheál Mac Liammóir, this acclaimed one-man play returns to London in a new production directed by Michael Fentiman and starring Alastair Whatley. Ahead of the production’s run at Park Theatre, Red Bus Londinium spoke with Whatley about stepping into a role so closely associated with Mac Liammóir, discovering the private Wilde through unpublished letters, and why this portrait of one of literature’s greatest figures remains as moving and relevant as ever.

Red Bus: Mac Liammóir wrote this play as a vehicle for himself, and performed it hundreds of times. What does it mean to take on a role so closely associated with one particular performer?

Alastair Whatley: Michael Fentiman’s production is full of the ghost of Mac Liammóir – we even hear his voice at the beginning of the play and again at the end. It is of course an amazing privilege to spend time in the world and with the language not just of Wilde but of Mac Liammóir who is worthy of a play in himself. When I first performed this play, aged 24, I completely underestimated the craft, skill and beauty of Mac Liammóir’s narration, how his voice blended seamlessly with Wilde and ‘Wildean’ language. The play is completely unique in that regard. It feels like it is a summoning not just of the spirit of an age but also of two truly unique characters in Wilde and Mac Liammóir.

Red Bus: The play draws on unpublished letters. Did anything in that private correspondence change how you understand Wilde as a person rather than a legend?

Alastair Whatley: I was asked to do this play, aged 24, to celebrate 25 years of the Wilde Theatre at South Hill Park in Bracknell. I look back now and wonder at the chutzpah and youthful confidence that felt I could tackle the play at that age. I came to that production knowing only the bones of Wilde’s story. I came back to it knowing more but also having experienced more of life and thus was really hit by the complexities, contradictions and rawness of his famous prison letter to Lord Alfred Douglas. In some ways you get to see moments in that letter of the man behind the mask. It is painful sometimes to perform it.

Red Bus: Wilde could be cruel, reckless, and not always kind. Does the production engage with that side of him, or is this primarily a celebration?

Alastair Whatley: Mac Liammóir wrote his play in part in a bid to help rehabilitate the reputation of Wilde the man. 1960’s Catholic Ireland was hardly an open and welcoming place and had a long road to travel in terms of its attitudes to homosexuality, England was arguably just as bad. Thus the play has a unique tension in that it was first performed in an era when homosexuality was still illegal, thus the play probes, suggests and dances around what today we would be able to speak far more openly about. When Mike and I first came to revive the play in 2024 with Reading Rep we asked ourselves why I as the narrator is not able to be more overt. Yet to do so would be entirely to break the spell of the tension within the language and storytelling.

In terms of Wilde’s behaviour, you see as mentioned in de Profundis a side of him that is unfamiliar to many. His behaviour to his wife Constance speaks for itself and we did give Constance a voice in this iteration, one of the few changes we employed. The audience I feel is the mirror here, the audience have changed just as society has done- we come to the play changed since Mac Liammóir last performed in 1976- 60 years ago almost to the day. The production does celebrate Wilde, but I hope by showing his complexities, his darkness as well as his light.

Red Bus: Wilde was pardoned posthumously in 2017. His face is on merchandise, his wit is quoted daily, he has been reclaimed and celebrated. And yet… what does this show have to say to an audience that might think his story has a happy ending?

Alastair Whatley: I actually find his life rather sad in many ways- particularly his last years ostracised ‘A derelict in the prime of life’. In the play, we cite speaking to André Gide boasting that he put his genius into his life, his talent merely into his writing- his life was his masterpiece. Yet that canvas is steeped in tragedy and regret as much as brilliance and literary genius. The whole second half of the play is given over to his last years in prison and his last few years on his release leading to his untimely end. Thus to answer your question those coming expecting a night of pure Wildean wit and comedy, will come away surprised by what his life reveals- all his life- not just that ’tiger life’ he spent in the decade of living at Tite Street and being lauded by all. The production goes deeper and in my view is all the more interesting for it.

Red Bus: Some audiences will arrive already knowing and loving Wilde. Others may come knowing little beyond the name. How do you hold both in the room at once?

Alastair Whatley: I am on tour with the show at the moment, and you feel a very different experience on stage depending on how familiar the audience is with Wilde. Some audiences come in almost ahead of the story, I have had audience members completing lines for me in some of the famous scenes, ‘A handbag!’. A good lesson for me not to take too long! At other times you feel a real sense of discovery, a concentration and I hope an engagement with this utterly brilliant and complex figure. The play is a conversation with the audience in many ways, and thus every night to quote the old adage feels like a new show.

Red Bus: How did the performance shift between Reading Rep and Jermyn Street? And what are you expecting from Park Theatre, a larger room, a longer run, a different audience demographic?

Alastair Whatley: Reading was a great place to open the show originally. The audience there on the whole, and to speak rather broadly felt to me on stage less familiar with Wilde. The audience had a broad demographic and every night was very different- sometimes a real edge to the conversation mentioned. It could be thrilling. Jermyn Street was more intimate- and we had a brilliant month long sold out run, the audience were more vocal, laughed more and we attracted many who had seen the original Mac Liammóir version. It felt like doing it in a private club.

Now on tour playing some large proscenium venues- the show can breathe. These were the theatres in some ways it written for and Madeleine Girling’s exquisite design sits beautifully. We are now looking ahead to Park which will take the scale of Reading with 200 seats, combined with the intimacy of Jermyn Street but now take the show from out of the arch of our touring production into a thrust and the audience around me on 3 sides. I expect it will be intense, more of a shared experience and a direct conversation. We have played Park many times with previous work and love the audience the venue attracts – sat in a great community in Finsbury Park but with easy access across London thanks to siting almost directly on the tube line- it offers the best of what a neighbourhood theatre can be. I can’t wait to get the show in and share the show in London all over again.

Listings Information

Venue: Park Theatre, 13 Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, London N4 3JP

Show: The Importance of Being Oscar

Dates & times: Wed 22 July – Sat 22 Aug 2026 (Wed/Thur/Fri eve + Sat mat & eve in week 1, then Mon-Sat 7:30pm + Thurs & Sat 3pm)

Running Time: 90 minutes

Age suitability: 10+

Access information: parktheatre.co.uk/visit-eat-and-drink/accessibility

Content warnings: Please be aware this show contains mild haze and blackouts. At one point during the show, there is also a flash of light towards the audience.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

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