Wilde Festival promises fresh insights into flamboyant writer

Galway’s second Oscar Wilde Festival will be held from September 5-7 in the City’s Harbour Hotel and Taibhdhearc Theatre.

Speakers from Galway, UK and the US will offer fresh insights into the work of the renowned writer who had strong Galway connections, while the Festival will also support new Irish writing.

The official launch will take place on Friday, September 5, at 6pm in the Harbour Hotel and will be followed by a talk on a remarkable Galway woman, Eva O’Flaherty, who referred to Wilde as her “cousin Oscar”.

Eva moved in circles in London, Paris, Dublin and Achill from the 1900s onwards through her involvement in millinery, literary and intellectual pursuits. Eva O’Flaherty died in 1963 and was buried in the family vault in Donaghpatrick Graveyard, Caherlistrane.

The talk on her life will be delivered by Mary J Murphy from Menlough, broadcaster, journalist and author of Eva O’Flaherty: Forgotten Island Heroine.

The festival will move to An Taibhdhearc on Saturday, September 6. The Irish-language theatre has strong connections with Wilde through the writer and performer Micheál MacLiammóir, who staged the first play at the venue in 1928.

MacLiammóir subsequently went on to perform the acclaimed one-man show, The Importance of Being Oscar, and wrote extensively about Wilde.

Saturday’s events will begin at 12 noon with a talk on Wilde Today, exploring the contemporary view of Wilde and asking if his reputation has stood the test of time.

Three speakers – Dr David Clare of NUI Galway; New York writer and historian John Cooper, the author of Oscar Wilde in America; and UK actress Patricia Leventon – will discuss this question.

At 4pm, John Cooper will deliver a talk on Wilde and Dress. Wilde was renowned as a flamboyant dresser and used clothes for theatrical maximum effect.

A letter Wilde wrote, entitled The Philosophy of Dress, was rediscovered by John Cooper in 2012 and was confirmed by Wilde’s grandson, Merlin Holland, as authentic. It offers a fascinating insight into his dress sense. John Cooper’s talk will explore the influences, trends, characters and source material that informed Wilde’s relationship with dress.

Saturday’s events will conclude with a show about one of the most important women in Wilde’s life – his mother, Jane, also known as Speranza. This will be performed by Patricia Leventon at 8pm. The Belfast Telegraph described it as “imaginative and informative” adding that it provided “great insight into Oscar’s life and the influence of his mother”.

The Festival will conclude on September 7 with new Irish writing.

Kicking Oscar’s Corpse, by Galway writer Brendan Murphy, will make its debut at the Harbour Hotel at 1pm. Based on court transcripts, Kicking Oscar’s Corpse is a docu-play based on the famous libel trial of Maud Allan in 1918.

It’s a story of judges and prejudice, MPs and dancing girls, sex, scandal and conspiracy. Tickets are available online and there will be some on the door if seats are available.

Light refreshments will be available beforehand. Festival organiser Sandra Coffey points out that ticket to this year’s Oscar Wilde Festival are reasonably priced and hopes this will help people to “come and enjoy the weekend”.

Tickets for Saturday’s shows in An Taibhdhearc are available online on www.antaibhdhearc.com, by phone at 091 563600, or in person from the box office on Middle Street. n For further information on the programme and tickets, go to www.oscarwildefestival.com