Tic Tac Toe has been making a name for itself over the last few years. Their latest project is a one-man show about Oscar Wilde, set during one of the most turbulent times in his frequently scandalous life. It will be performed at the Assembly Rooms in Frome on Wednesday 29th May at 8pm.
Tic Tac Toe’s founder, Calum Grant, has written and directs the piece for long-time collaborator Luke Stuart. The play first visited Frome in 2016 and was directed by Geoff Hunt; this is a re-worked and slimmed down version that has been touring the area playing in Bristol, Bath, Warminster and now returning home to Frome.
“The challenge of the piece was finding the right entry point,” explains writer Calum Grant, “when I first suggested the idea to Luke Stuart (who plays Oscar in the show) I was imagining a play that would honour a great literary genius and show the cruelty of a world that condemned him for being homosexual.
“This is not the play we have now, The Scandalous Love of Oscar Wilde is more interested in the human Oscar, rather than the overly sanitised version we are often presented with. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a character assassination either, we want the audience to be drawn to Oscar, to find him endearing, but to not necessarily approve of his actions towards others. By showing an Oscar that has faults, who can be intolerably cruel in his descriptions of his wife Constance, but who essentially strived to improve things, makes him much more relatable to the audience.”
The Scandalous Love of Oscar Wilde is set on the evening of 6th April 1895. Oscar waits alone for the knock on the door that will bring an arrest warrant for the charges of gross indecency against him. In this time of reflection, Oscar talks to the audience about the path that has brought him to this moment and the lives of those he has loved which will be irreparably changed through his actions.
The play has garnered more critical acclaim for Tic Tac Toe with reviews from Crysse Morrison and Elizabeth Winkler saying ‘Luke Stuart … completely inhabited this part’ and ‘This one-man play is a revealing, fact-based, compelling and thought- provoking account of Oscar Wilde, sensitively portrayed. May it run and run.’
After playing in Frome, the play will continue to tour on to Bournemouth Little Theatre in August and then The Alma Tavern Theatre in early September.
The Scandalous Love of Oscar Wilde is on at The Assembly Rooms, on 29th May. For tickets call 01373 462795 or book through http://www.fmt. website
