Oscar Wilde News

Martin Witts and Lesley Ackland for London International Arts Ltd present the World Premiere of a new British musical, winner of Leicester Square Theatre's The New Musical Project, Oscar Wilde's De Profundis, featuring Music & Lyrics by Paul Dale Vickers. The show, starring Alastair Brookshaw, will be directed by Katie Pesskin with musical direction by Michael Riley. Scroll down for a first look at Brookshaw!

Pioneer Theatre Company presents Alabama Story, the third installment of PTC's new play reading series, called Play-By-Play. Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones runs April 4 and 5, 2014. PTC Artistic Director Karen Azenberg directs the production.

Author Jasper-Lee Williams uncovers four stories that will enchant readers in his new publication, 'Gabriel and Other Tales.' With a dose of organic characters and coupled with fantastic elements, this book is an incredible solution to everyday people's problems.

When Seattle Shakespeare Company hits one out of the park they do it with gusto. Such is the case with their current production of Oscar Wilde's battle of witty banter, "The Importance of Being Earnest". They've managed to take Wilde's delightful romp and made it even more delightful by executing it with magnificent precision in all aspects. If I had to find one drawback with the production it's that it ended as I, for one, was having entirely too good a time.

The Bunbury Company of Players comprising Rosalind Ayres (Outnumbered, New Tricks, God and Monsters), Niall Buggy (Translations, Dead Funny, Uncle Vanya), Nigel Havers (Downton Abbey, The Life Of Rock with Brian Pern, Coronation Street), Martin Jarvis (Endeavour, Law & Order: UK, Titanic), Christine Kavanagh (Basket Case, Vera, Manchild), Cherie Lunghi (Passion Play, Secret Diary of a Call girl, The Manageress) and Sia?n Phillips (Marlene, The Age of Innocence, Cabaret) star in Oscar Wilde's much loved and brilliantly witty masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest.

American Players Theatre (APT) announces its 35th Season, June 7 to November 9, 2014, a diverse lineup spanning from Shakespeare to Mamet and helmed by recently appointed Artistic Director Brenda DeVita-the company's first new artistic director in over 20 years. DeVita's season includes the first David Mamet production of the company's history, American Buffalo, and her staging of Joan Didion's memoir The Year of Magical Thinking in APT's intimate 200-seat Touchstone Theatre, alongside such classics as Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet in APT's flagship 1148-seat outdoor amphitheater Up the Hill.

The classic The Picture of Dorian Gray, based on Oscar Wilde's novel, leads March's shortened Reel 13 schedule.

The Daily Mail writes that Nigel Havers and Martin Jarvis will co-star in a revamped production of Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, beginning June 27, 2014 at the Harold Pinter Theatre, with plans for a UK tour.

Seattle Shakespeare Company is proud to announce their new production of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by Oscar Wilde. The production, directed by Victor Pappas, will run tonight, March 21 through Sunday, April 13, 2014 at the Center Theatre at Seattle Center.

Master of Absurd Comedy Christopher Durang blends the characters and themes from Anton Chekhov's dramas in the hilarious Tony Award-winner Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike running today, March 21 - April 20 at Philadelphia Theatre Company's Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Directed by James J. Christy, the ensemble features Grace Gonglewski, Deirdre Madigan, Kianne Muschett , Clare O'Malley, Alex Shaw, and Kraig Swartz.

Seattle Shakespeare Company is proud to announce their new production of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by Oscar Wilde. The production, directed by Victor Pappas, will run Friday, March 21 through Sunday, April 13, 2014 at the Center Theatre at Seattle Center.

The British are coming to Monmouth for Theater at Monmouth's 45th season. The British Invasion, running from June 28 through September 28, 2014, features a line-up of plays from England's greatest playwrights.

Monsterpiece Theater Collective's Importance of Being Earnest interprets Oscar Wilde's classic with a jazzy New Orleans flair. Starting our journey in turn of the century New Orleans we combine the music and rich heritage of the south and the posh facade of English society. Using the poetry of John Gambril Nicholson, a contemporary of Wilde and author of the poem (of Boy's Names) that inspired the title of this classic, the Monsterpiece Collective has created a musical world of original songs and Dixieland jazz standards. Moving from drawing rooms and countryside gardens to honky tonks and plantations we enjoy the sharp wit and acid tongue that can only be found two places, Wilde's characters and the most charming southern homes.

Bloomsbury Publishing, the UK's leading publisher of dramatic texts, is thrilled to announce that L.A. Theatre Works will be joining Drama Online with a new audio collection launching in January, 2015. The addition of 400+ audio files of recorded plays will add another dimension to the 1000+ play texts on the platform, allowing students to engage with the plays as performed as well as read.

De Profundis, a new musical by Paul Dale Vickers, based on the letter playwright Oscar Wilde wrote to his young lover, Bosie, from his prison cell in Reading jail in 1897, has won Leicester Square Theatre's The New Musical Project, and will premiere in a six-week season in The Lounge at Leicester Square Theatre from Thursday May 1 - Sunday 8 June.

CTC will present the last installment of their season of English language masterpieces by way of The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde's final, and most masterful, play, The Importance of Being Earnest deals with a common theme in Wilde's work: the leading of double lives. Socialite Jack Worthing and dilettante friend Algernon Moncrieff create fictitious alter egos for themselves in order to buck society's stifling restrictions placed upon them. Hilarity ensues when their love interests, Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew, fall in love with their false personas. Full of witty repartee and scathing social commentary, The Importance of Being Earnest, will bring down the house with laughter.

Zee Zee Theatre presents the world premiere of Dave Deveau's controversial and riveting new play, Lowest Common Denominator, which explores the world of intergenerational relationships and unleashes the darkness that exists just underneath a thin skin. Directed by Cameron Mackenzie, Lowest Common Denominator stars Deborah Williams, Dallas Sauer and Shawn Macdonald (and boasts a highly accomplished design team: Kyla Gardiner (Lighting Design), Sydney Cavanagh (Costume Design) & Marina Szijarto (Set Design)) and plays at the PAL Studio Theatre today, March 14-30, 2014.

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts has now added a third and final week of performances for the world premiere of THE TEMPEST, which will now play April 6-27, with special preview performances April 1-4. The opening night celebration will take place on Saturday, April 5. Produced in association with the American Reparatory Theater (A.R.T.), THE TEMPEST is adapted and directed by Aaron Posner and Teller from the play by William Shakespeare, with magic by Teller, music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan and movement by Matt Kent of Pilobolus. THE TEMPEST will perform at The Smith Center's Donald W. Reynolds Symphony Park in a 500-seat climate-controlled tent. Tickets start at $35 for regular performances and $25 for preview performances. Tickets for the opening night celebration are $150 and include an exclusive post-show reception. All tickets are on sale now at The Smith Center box office, online at www.TheSmithCenter.com or by phone at (702) 749-2000.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Diane Paulus, Artistic Director and William Russo, Managing Director; announced today the company for the last production of its 2013/14 Season, THE TEMPEST, adapted and directed by Aaron Posner and Teller from the play by William Shakespeare, with magic by Teller, music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, and movement by Matt Kent of Pilobolus.

Gingold Theatrical Group's PROJECT SHAW, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director David Staller, presents Oscar Wilde's short mystery, The Portrait of Mr. W. H., on Monday, April 14 at 7pm, at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre (2895 Broadway at 95th St.).