STAGE REVIEW : ‘IMPORTANCE OF OSCAR’ SPOILS A WELL-MADE LIFE

Oscar Wilde lived “a well-made life,” wrote George Bernard Shaw, “almost as if he knew instinctively that there must be no episodes to spoil the great situation at the end of the last act but one.”

In other words, Wilde’s life might make a rip-roaring play, complete with a climactic courtroom scene when he’s tried for homosexuality. There have been unsuccessful attempts in this direction. But only in the last couple of decades has homosexuality been a topic of open discussion on the stage. Now that it’s discussed in every other new play, why not a smashing new Wilde play?

Instead, we get Simon MacCorkindale in “The Importance of Being Oscar,” Michael macLiammoir’s toasty one-man tribute that dates from 1960. Perhaps inevitably, considering its date of origin, it’s a play that “spoils the great situation at the end of the last act but one.” Except for one scene in which the judge pronounces his sentence, Wilde’s trial occurs during the intermission--when the audience is busy admiring the furniture that’s on sale in the lobby of the Westwood Playhouse.

We’re given neither the courtroom fireworks nor a clear picture of what ignited them. And, because these events occur between acts, most of the show’s second half has the air of an anticlimax. The last five or six scenes, which drift inexorably away from that courtroom, are the least interesting part of the show.

True, it might have been difficult for one actor to have played all of the roles in a courtroom drama. The obvious (albeit expensive) solution is to hire more actors. We’ve seen too many monodramas at the Westwood, including another Wilde show--the Vincent Price/John Gay “Diversions and Delights” just two years ago.

Nevertheless, MacCorkindale is no slouch at playing a multitude of characters. He tackles 12 of them at the Westwood, ranging from a lower-class jailer to Lady Bracknell. His Lady Bracknell isn’t on the level of Sean McClory’s or Ellis Rabb’s, but there are some skillfully assembled creations here.

The most impressive piece in the show is a nicely creepy condensation of “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” If you’ve got the bucks, you might want to hire MacCorkindale to tell spooky stories at your next Halloween party.

The lesser characters aren’t on stage for long; MacCorkindale spends most of his time either playing Wilde or talking about him, a la Alistair Cooke. He’s at the right age to do Wilde, and he’s had the proper stage training for the role. He knows how to thrust his big, blond body into the fey shape of an archer’s bow, and his voice becomes as velvety as the brown jacket that designer Ron Talsky provided for him. It’s a hammy performance, but it’s appropriate for a character who relished the flamboyant and the artificial.

Russell Pyle’s lighting sharply defines the spaces and moods. However, the large circular scrims that Pyle placed at the back of the stage are more distracting than helpful, especially when director Annett Wolf dispatches MacCorkindale to the other side of them. Pits Productions Ltd. contributed an effective sound track, but one longs to know what Wilde would have said about a name like Pits Productions.

Performances at 10886 Le Conte Ave. continue Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2:30 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., 208-5454.

Review of Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” on Page 4.