by Oscar Wilde
Ukaria Cultural Centre 119 Williams Road, Mt Barker Summit
Sunday June 9 @ 2.00
It is 1890, and the social season is in full swing. Wealthy, debonair young man-about-London, Lord Arthur Savile, is on top of the world. He is doted on by his elderly, aristocratic relatives, and engaged to Sybil Merton, the girl of his dreams.
At a party, his palm is read by a fashionable cheiromantist, who foretells that he will commit a murder. Horrified at the potential shame this will bring his bride, Arthur decides that it’s his duty to get the murder out of the way, discreetly, before he marries Sybil. But, which of his relatives is the most expendable? Aided by the services of his Jeeves-like butler, Baines, and a seedy German anarchist, with an array of guns, bombs and poisoned chocolates, Lord Arthur sets about his noble task – with increasingly hilarious results.
Wickedly funny, ingenious and farcical, Oscar Wilde’s short story is laden with the stunning dialogue that glitters through The Importance of being Earnest and Lady Windermere’s Fan.
Following the sell-out success of last year’s Ukaria play-reading of Judging Oscar, it seemed fitting to follow it up with one of Oscar’s lesser-known, but no less brilliant gems.