A COMPELLING AND DEEPLY-MOVING DRAMA

Acclaimed Hollywood and British film actor Rupert Everett gives a tour- de-force performance as Oscar Wilde in this engrossing revival of David Hare's 1988 play. Making its West End transfer, The Judas Kiss is a powerful rendition of Wilde's imprisonment and exile due to a love affair with the young aristocrat Bosie, son of a prominent Marquess.

With a quiet but defiant sense of outrage, notable Director Niel Armfield and prodigious writer David Hare present a beautifully crafted story about having the courage to stick to one's convictions and its consequences in a conformist society.

WHAT IS THE JUDAS KISS ABOUT?

The play is split into two acts. The first half sees Wilde on the eve of his incarceration as he considers fleeing for the safety of another country. Precipitated by a love affair with the handsome and spoilt Lord Alfred Douglas, or Bosie as he is affectionately called, Wilde is charged with gross indecency and faces long term imprisonment. Cruelly abandoned by those who followed him during his glory days, Wilde awaits his fate at a hotel that becomes his Garden of Gethsemane. Strong in his resolve, he refuses to run and faces the consequences.

Act two sees Wilde released after two years in prison, exiled to Naples. Inexplicably still in a relationship with the clearly untrustworthy Bosie, he lives in extreme poverty, a stark contrast to his lavish lifestyle in London. Suffering from failing health and writer's block, Wilde faces his darkest hour yet.