Text by Oscar Wilde
Directed by Oliver Reese
Review by Marina Funcasta
De Profundis, perhaps one of Wilde’s lesser known works, is restless in its categorisation. A love letter, a cry for survival, a reflection on his time in prison… There are points where Wilde even offers his opinions on punitive reform. These ideas emerge on the page like scorpions, launching at us with a string only capable of being written by someone who – themselves – were starving.
It is for this reason that I entered the Coronet Theatre on Sunday evening with misgivings. A German translation of Wilde’s prose would risk dissipating their meaning. Wilde, who himself, revelled in the aesthetic texture of language. Seeing his words emerge and disappear on the translated screen, I found myself craving the playscript. The vulnerability of his position called for the intimacy only written word could provide.
And yet, the more I listened, transfixed by Jens Harzer intensity, the more I realised that what I was looking for was not what Berliner Ensemble were trying to do. This was not a public reading of Oscar Wilde’s prison-writings. This was an aestheticized exploration of what can happen when desire is pushed to its extreme. How can the body, and the mind, cope? Where does the pain come from? Can something beautiful still be born, even at the end?
A characteristically stark work, the Berliner Ensemble offers us a tightening, but structurally simple, ninety minute answer to these questions. Existing in a world of narrow, suffocating verticality, Harzer embodies Wilde’s spirit with a ferocity that breaks through his surrounding prison-cell. The severity is an aesthetic choice, bringing to mind portraits of Erwin Wurm: indeed, a deformation of himself, and the walls or furniture around him, sees Harzer create, destroy, and then recreate himself as an artist. Oliver Reese is clever in his slicing of the text, and Harzer’s pacing is briskly alive. Although this makes it hard to balance with the translation, the stage will not let us forget the anchors of Wilde’s pain: his love for Lord Alfred Douglas/Bosie, whose portrait hangs on the wall, as well as marks of charcoal paint and blood – attempts of escape, or indeed, to express.
This production grows, splitting at the seams, bleeding anguish and passion. It ends in the same breath. I leave playing with my headphones playing the chorus from Woman’s Work by Kate Bush, and I can’t help but wonder whether the cost of loving is worthwhile. Of loving, and creating, and grieving. But reviewing this performance by Berliner Ensemble, I realise it has to be: their execution of this text from page to stage fuels Wilde’s prose with the aesthetic dimension it requires to stand, to fly.
Flies with Intensity
Berliner Ensemble: De Profundis By Oscar Wilde runs at The Coronet Theatre until October 7th
Running time: One hour and fifty minutes without interval
Photo credit – Jorg Bruggemann
Review by Marina Funcasta (contact@corrblimey.uk)
Marina is halfway through an English literature degree at Edinburgh University, wherein she has been (considerably) involved in the drama scene: enjoying performing with their Shakespeare Company shows, but also modern takes on Arthur Miller. However, Marina’s interests are wide-ranging under the theatre genre – enjoying abstract, more contemporary takes on shows (with a keen interest in Summerhall)
