It's 1899 and after two years of hard labour in English prisons, Oscar Wilde is in exile. Destitute, infamous and living a precarious existence, one of his ragged tactics of survival was to offer his ability as a wordsmith to write the lyrics to the operas of various composers. Oscar who was known for his lily adorned buttonhole obliges any composer who commissions his pen to also wear in their buttonhole a white lily until the work is finished. This they are eager to do. Meanwhile Death "the dark reaper' arrives in Paris hell bent on purging the world of these 'putrid aesthetes'. This he achieves by inducing spontaneous combustion in his lily loving victims and Oscar is top of his list. Oscar, however, after his encounter with a flower girl no longer wears the lily in his buttonhole but now sports a curious blue rose... World Premiere| 28 Aug 12 to 9 Sep 12 | Barons Court Theatre Inner London, Greater London Performance Details => Venue archive |
