The Ballad of Reading Gaol

T1439518433
Written by Oscar Wilde after his release from Reading Gaol (Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading having been convicted of homosexual offences in 1895, and sentenced to two years hard labour.

Author

Oascr Wilde

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Archive :: production:T1439518433, play:S1610593888, venue:V1068

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Production details

The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem which narrates the execution of Charles Thomas Wooldridge, who was convicted of murdering his wife. The Ballad of Reading Gaol moves from an objective story-telling to Wilde's juxtaposition of the executed man with himself, with the line "Yet each man kills the thing he loves". Wilde too was separated from his wife and sons. Double bill with Wilde Without the Boy