★★★½

“a grand revival that entertains and chills in equal measure”

“We all have one thing we’re ashamed of. Even the judge has, who’ll be peering at you over his glasses, making you feel like dirt. His secret may be the nastiest of the lot. Only you have committed the sin of being found out…”

The Theatre Royal has taken a bold decision with this revival of Emlyn Williams’ 1950 drama about a Nobel prize winning author with an addiction to sleazy sex. A knighthood from the king is about to propel William Trenting into the very heart of the establishment. But as his acquiescent wife knows, down at the Blue Lion in Rotherhithe he’s plain Bill Trent ‘the tramp’ who has a penchant for regular orgies.

The set is an immaculately brown period re-creation by Julie Godfrey who also designed the costumes. But how relevant to today’s audience is the moral anguish of 75 years ago? The answer is that accents and social mores may change but human fallibility does not. ‘Accolade’ sharply echoes recent sexual scandals involving any number of contemporary high profile individuals.

And although the plot relates the story of a man accused of sex with an underage girl, there are LGBT undercurrents. Emlyn Williams was bisexual throughout his adult life and took the lead at the show’s first production.

Director Sean Mathias has taken some imaginative decisions in both casting and design. Ayden Callaghan (Emmerdale and Hollyoaks) opens the show encased in something like a giant test tube which seems to symbolise the punishing glare of public scrutiny to which his character is about to be exposed. In this central role, his low-key performance was uneasily at odds with the rest of the cast. His Trenting does not belong in this sophisticated middle class world. But this is a provocative play of uneasy opposites. Public and private lives. Adults and minors. The establishment and the rest of us. In a telling line, Trenting admits that he is ‘growing up in front of my own son’.

Honeysuckle Weeks sparkles as Trenting’s compliantly loving wife Rona. As Trenting’s son, Louis Holland gives an engaging performance, literally drawing a veil across the scene in what seems to be a vain attempt to hide his family’s private drama from our gaze. Holland plays a bookish and privately educated 14 year old, in a pointed parallel to the child victim of Trenting’s philandering.

The sound design by David Gregory was particularly effective. Jamie Hogarth gives an intriguing performance as Albert, Trenting’s secretary with a dodgy past the author managed to pick up in a pub. Narinder Samra is terrific as Trenting’s insinuating blackmailer. Williams’ writing is peppered with witticisms, but very much of its time. Sara Twomey and Gavin Fowler give colourful performances as the cheery proprietors of the Blue Lion pub, who slip gleefully into Trenting’s posh home life.

‘Accolade’ is a grand revival that entertains and chills in equal measure.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR at Reading Rep Theatre

★★★★★

“an elegant and electrifying revival”

Micheál Mac Liammóir (1899-1978) was a prodigiously talented actor, writer and director who founded the famous Gate Theatre in Dublin. In 1960 he wrote and performed a highly successful one-man show about Oscar Wilde which went on to tour the world. For many years the play was the only available theatrical presentation of the celebrated Irish writer and gay aesthete’s life.

Director Michael Fentiman, whose credits include the Watermill’s award winning musical Amélie, has delivered an elegant and electrifying revival of the show for this lively Reading theatre. It is performed by Alastair Whatley, the artistic director and founder of prize-winning Original Theatre which has made a name for itself for its pioneering work in digital theatre.

The play is delivered as a first person narrative, from a black box set by Madeleine Girling which consists of a circular daïs which is mirrored by a circle of light above. The highly effective lighting design by Chris Davey complements this satisfyingly simple design. It is matched by a subtle and highly effective sound design by composer Barnaby Race.

In a notable omission, the playwright glosses over the fact that Wilde arguably brought a criminal prosecution on himself by attempting to prove in court that he was libelled by the Marquess of Queensberry who had accused him of ‘posing as a somdomite’ (sic).

But Wilde’s brilliancy shines in extracts from ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. Alastair Whatley’s performance is both very fine and a prodigious demonstration of his powers of recall. His version of Lady Bracknell’s cross-examination of Worthing (‘To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune – to lose both seems like carelessness’.) was an absolute delight.

There is a special poignancy in hearing extracts from Wilde’s landmark letter to his lover Lord Alfred Douglas performed in Reading, since Wilde wrote it in the town’s gaol during his two year incarceration following a conviction for gross indecency. ‘De Profundis’ or ‘from the depths’ was laboriously written on 80 sheets of prison paper. It begins with self-pity but in the second half turns to humble and spiritual reflection: ‘To those who are in prison tears are a part of every day’s experience. A day in prison on which one does not weep is a day on which one’s heart is hard, not a day on which one’s heart is happy.’

The highlight of this performance was a cleverly staged rendition of Wilde’s Ballad of Reading Gaol which tells the true story of a man hanged at Reading gaol for murdering his unfaithful wife: ‘Yet each man kills the thing he loves / By each let this be heard, / Some do it with a bitter look, / Some with a flattering word, / The coward does it with a kiss, / The brave man with a sword!’

In ‘De Profundis’ Wilde writes about ‘feasting with panthers’ – a reference to his fondness for sex with underage boys, an offence for which he would still be imprisoned today. At the time, his offence was seen as immeasurably worse because they were not of his class. None of that takes away from Oscar Wilde’s greatness, which is brought to vivid life in Reading in this compelling theatrical tour de force.

Tag Archives: David Woodward

ACCOLADE

★★★½

Theatre Royal Windsor

ACCOLADE at the Theatre Royal Windsor

★★★½

“a grand revival that entertains and chills in equal measure”

ACCOLADE at the Theatre Royal Windsor as part of UK Tour

Reviewed on 6th June 2024

by David Woodward

Photography by Jack Merriman

Previously reviewed at this venue:

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR | ★★★★ | April 2024

CLOSURE | ★★★★ | February 2024

THE GREAT GATSBY | ★★★ | February 2024

ALONE TOGETHER | ★★★★ | August 2023

BLOOD BROTHERS | ★★★★★ | January 2022

THE CHERRY ORCHARD | ★★★★ | October 2021

ACCOLADE

ACCOLADE

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR

★★★★★

Reading Rep Theatre

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR at Reading Rep Theatre

★★★★★

“an elegant and electrifying revival”