Melbourne Reviews

With its red-carpet celebrities and gala vibes at the Regent Theatre, the opening night of Oscar felt more like a musical theatre premiere than a ballet. 

But Oscar is no run of the mill program in The Australian Ballet’s calendar – so why not make the most of it?

Firstly, it’s the start of The Australian Ballet’s three-year residency at the Regent Theatre. It’s also a completely brand-new production, made for and on The Australian Ballet by superstar British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. (Wheeldon also choreographed the ever-popular Alice in Wonderland in The AB’s repertoire, although that was not an original commission like this one.)

Very significantly, Oscar is not a ballet about the typical man/woman, man/sylph relationship but rather the love between men – Oscar Wilde was a gay man when it wasn’t acceptable to be gay in late 19^th century England – illegal in fact – and landing him in prison for "gross indecency”. After his two-year confinement, which drove him mad, Wilde didn’t live much longer, dying from illness at only 46 years of age.

But from that relatively short life, so many of Oscar Wilde's plays, novels and writings still hold clout today. There are nods to these writings in in Jean-Marc Puissant’s stage and costume design – actual penmanship and book covers are layered into the video and costume designs. 

It’s not easy to convey someone’s writerly skill through image or dance. Wheeldon does this by interspercing Wilde’s real-life narrative with balletic enactments of two of his novels – The Nightingale and the Rose and The Picture of Dorian Gray. This duality, running in both acts, creates a dramatic consistency that ties together Wilde as a person to Wilde as a talent/professional and still retains the plethora of emotions in the narrative. 

The Act II centrepiece pas de deux between Wilde and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie) is a muscular yet tender, sensuous dance. Callum Linnane as Wilde and Benjamin Garrett as Bosie intertwine and kiss with an intensity greater than what is often seen on stage, wrapping and grabbing limbs with an athletic fluidity that is a highlight of the evening. 

Other highlights – and when Wilde really comes to life are the punchy scenes of the courtroom where family fissions and societal pressures are expressed through frenetic re-arranging and dismantling of furniture with tightly choreographed geometric patterns. The bawdier club and boudoir scenes also bring out the multi-dimensionalities at play. 

In contrast and equally compelling, Ako Kondo as the Nightingale flits in and out of Act I as an avian force with long sweeping limbs and punchy stride – echoing Wilde’s troubled relationship to love. 

Wheeldon packs the extensive two acts with so much material – much of the first act is in flashbacks to happy moments of Wilde’s married life with wife Constance (Sharni Spencer) and his forays into London’s high society party scene.

(Cameos by Benedicte Bemet as Sara Bernhardt, Mia Heathcote as Lillie Langtry, Jill Ogai as Ellen Terry are all vibrant solos that nod to the social circles of the decade.)

Act II is more interesting dynamically and choreographically as Wilde descends into a deep madness and despair, mostly holed up in his jail cell. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray intertwines with the action which shifts and remodulates constantly, not lingering overlong on any particular scenario. It's here that the gutsy dancing happens.

The set's high archways and interior walls for what becomes a manor, courthouse, sitting room and more, has subtle changes of light and background video (design by David Bergman) to create both the grandness of lavish indoors and the natural outdoors. Tree imagery is especially effective. Other time the whole set seems to drop away to depict sparse, small scenarios like Wilde alone, thrashing around in his prison bed. 

Oscar is two very full ambitious acts, with much to admire and get swept up in.

It’s overdrawn in some aspects of the narrative, mainly in Act I and underlit at times as to not be able to appreciate the full effects of the costumes which include feathery embellishments, handwriting patterns and nature images on the fabrics.

Overall, Oscar unites a wide scope of ideas and wraps them up into a biographical framework that’s personal to Wilde while also expressing greater themes of pursuing personal truth and an authentic life against many obstacles, including the law. Its ideas are universal but its history specific and that combination is well-captured in the production. 

Excitingly, Orchestra Victoria, conducted by Jonathan Lo, is front and centre, not hidden in the pit like they usually are at the State Theatre. Rows of the Regent’s stalls have been removed to make way for all of the musicians who are at audience-level and becomes a prominent part of the visuals.

Composer Joby Talbot (a long-term collaborator with Wheeldon) has created a dense and complicated score, cinematic and sprawling in scope. The orchestra takes on the challenge wholeheartedly and it sounds fantastic.