TCD Festival Marks the Life and Works of Oscar Wilde
Posted on: 28 January 2011
Trinity College will celebrate one of the greatest writers, poets and playwrights of all times with the first ever Oscar Wilde Festival on campus next week (January 31st – February 5th). The event, which is organised by the Dublin University Players and the Philosophical Society, will showcase a week of comedy, music, theatre and spectacle set in Wilde’s old stamping ground as the campus comes alive to pay tribute to one of Trinity College’s most renowned alumni.
To kick start the festival The Happy Prince will be performed in the Players Theatre daily at 1pm and will be followed by a surprise performance on stage at 3pm. Activities scheduled for the week include readings from Wilde’s works by the Literature Society, scenes presented by the Trinity Rowers, the unveiling of the Dorian Gray Project image and a special two-day performance of Lady Wilde by Patricia Leventon. These events will take place in both the GMB and the Players Theatre throughout the course of the week.
Each evening the festival will showcase the very best of Trinity’s artistic talent. Performers will take to the stage to bring you two adaptations of Wilde’s most famous work, The Importance of Being Earnest, at the Samuel Beckett Theatre. The first, entitled Jack and Algernon and directed by Dean Rodgers, displays a unique interpretation of the play while the second, entitled Earnest and directed by Rosemary McKenna and Sara Joyce, follows the antics of Jack and Algernon as they discover the ‘vital importance of being Earnest’ – both shows are charming, hilarious and not to be missed.
To round up the celebrations each night an assortment of events and guest speakers have been arranged to entertain the festival goers commencing at 9pm each evening. The GMB will play host to a number of guests including leading biographer on Wilde, Jonathan Fryer and the comedic Penny Dreadfuls.
All workshops and evening events will be free of charge and accommodated on a first come first served basis. For information on booking any of the three theatre shows please contact the box office at DU Players by emailing festival@duplayers.com or calling 01-8962242.
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