Theater review: ‘Gross Indecency’ at Eclectic Company Theatre

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Part docudrama, part classical tragedy, and part scathing indictment of social hypocrisy, Moises Kaufman’s ‘Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde’ brings strikingly original theatrical flair to an oft-dramatized story.

Kaufman’s kaleidoscopic 1997 script masterfully weaves court transcripts, press coverage and first-hand accounts (both published and unpublished) by the major participants into a gripping story whose dramatic possibilities are substantially though not entirely realized in Susan Lee’s staging for NoHo’s Eclectic Company Theatre revival.

In the title role, actor Kerr Seth Lordygan’s opening quote from Wilde’s ‘De Profundis’ asserts that time and space are merely accidental conditions of thought that the imagination can transcend. However, I discovered my transcending capacity to be sadly limited when it comes to an Oscar Wilde with shaved head and chin strip beard -- especially when even the posters and program cover sport Wilde’s iconic mane of shoulder-length hair. Designer Bryce Daniels’ well-considered period costumes further accentuate the incongruity -- could someone spring for a wig for those of us with no imagination?

It’s an unfortunate distraction, for in other respects Lordygan does an admirable job portraying Wilde’s razor-sharp wit, his passionate devotion to art and beauty, and the tragic hubris that brought him down. Goaded by his lover Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas (Joshua Grant), Wilde brought the original libel suit against Douglas’ tyrannical father (Andrew Hagan) that backfired with Wilde’s overreaching wisecrack on the witness stand. This electrically charged ‘Perry Mason’ moment not only vindicated his accuser, but opened Wilde to prosecution under British sodomy laws that remained in effect until 1953.

Versatile supporting performances from Hagan (doubling as a prosecutor in the later trials) and Darrell Philip, as Wilde’s long-suffering attorney, add dramatic heft to the legal proceedings. The courtroom setting, interspersed with opinionated quotes from contemporaneous luminaries, such as Queen Victoria and George Bernard Shaw, as well as anonymous newspaper editorials, afford an open invitation for grandstanding, at times making the trials of Oscar Wilde seem like a life sentence.

-- Philip Brandes

‘Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde,’ Eclectic Company Theatre, 5312 Laurel Canyon Blvd., North Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Oct. 11. $18. (818) 508-3003. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.