Oscar Wilde was more than an astonishing wit and gifted writer. Professor of Theatre at Texas Christian University and well-known actor, director and dialect coach in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metroplex, Krista Scott argues that he gave the strong female protagonist to modern Western theatre and literature. Here she talks about his characters, his great friend Lillie Langtry, and how she brings them together in the Edinburgh Fringe production Wilde Women.
Thanks to Wilde, other celebrated playwrights of the day began creating strong female protagonists
“I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.” – Lady Bracknell, The Importance of Being Earnest.
Only Oscar Wilde could make an utterly paradoxical epigram seem absolutely logical coming from the mind of Lady Bracknell, the nonsensical no-nonsense matriarch from The Importance of Being Ernest. But Wilde’s unconventional and fiercely independent ladies such as Salomé, Mrs. Cheverly (An Ideal Husband), and Mrs. Arbuthnot (A Woman of No Importance), changed the direction of Western theatre and literature by introducing self-determining female protagonists who apologise to no one.
His wit and insight gave audiences a multitude of memorable characters and quotes such as, Mrs. Cheverly’s quip:
“The strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analysed, women… merely adored.”
Contrasts between the sexes is a common theme is his social comedies: In A Woman of No Importance, Mrs. Allonby argues against the conjecture that wives' frivolity was what made marriages unhappy:
“How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she was a perfectly rational being?... We have always been picturesque protests against the mere existence of common sense. We saw its dangers from the first.”
Over the past nine years I have been researching his work, with increasing admiration for its quality and impact. Thanks to Wilde, other celebrated playwrights of the day began creating strong female protagonists who buck conventional domesticity. George Bernard Shaw wrote Mrs. Warren’s Profession soon after seeing the opening performance of Lady Windermere’s Fan, and the similarities in social politics and the nonconformist mother roles are undeniable. Strindberg and Chekhov also followed suit, creating more psychologically complex female characters at the turn of the 20 th century.
Something else I realised as I researched Wilde's life was that his impact on the role of women wasn’t restricted to fictional worlds. His relationship with Lillie Langtry, the celebrated Victorian beauty, socialite, and actress, was crucial to her rise to stardom, and she in turn, influenced his poetry and playwriting. He dedicated several poems to her and based the character of Mrs. Erlynne in Lady Windermere’s Fan on Langtry’s own life experience, although Langtry never performed the role. And Langtry’s life and personality were every bit as outsized as Wilde’s characters.
So, it seemed only natural to bring them together and create a play celebrating Wilde's women that has her as its performer. And Edinburgh seemed to be a perfect place to premier the play, since as mistress to the future King Edward VII, Langtry was a frequent visitor to the Scottish love-nest he created for them in Balmoral Castle. Langtry's status as a socialite and the Prince's royal position made their relationship a public spectacle and a source of scandal.
“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” – O. Wilde
Langtry had affairs with other men, including the Earl of Shrewsbury and Prince Louis of Battenberg. She bore a daughter out of wedlock which she kept secret from her husband, Edward Langtry. Oscar was one of only five people who knew about the illegitimate child, who grew up believing that Lillie’s deceased brother was her father and knew Langtry as 'Aunt Lillie' until she was grown. Langtry never revealed who the father was, other than it was not the Prince of Wales.
“I like men who have a future, and women who have a past.” – O. Wilde
So, I had a source of material, a theme, a historically relevant character, but no dramatic context in which they came together. I started to develop the idea that Lillie wanted to do what I was doing: create a piece for herself in which she would portray the juicy women’s roles in Wilde’s plays.
Reading about the frequent and extensive theatre touring Langtry did, I set the play in a backstage dressing room. By casting the audience as adoring fans visiting her there after a performance, they become the scene partner she needs to help her select the proper characters for her piece and with whom she can share her stories about Oscar, his work and their friendship. Tension mounts as she awaits a telegram from Oscar agreeing to assist in creating a grand stage come-back and humour surouns the arrival of other unexpected telegrams.
Wilde’s flamboyant lifestyle and his own scandalous trial and incarceration for 'gross indecency' are also explored amidst the monologues and scenes in the 50-minute performance.
