Oscar Wildes heart-rending poem reflecting on his two years hard labour, and a fellow inmates hanging, is an unflinching indictment of the Victorian penal system, particularly the death penalty. Its regular rhythms also recall the repetitive harshness of prison life as experienced by Wilde and all other inmates.
On the 7th of July 1896 a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards, Charles Thomas Woodbridge, who had been found guilty of cutting the throat of his wife, was hanged for her murder. The execution took place in the grounds of Reading Gaol where Wilde was serving his two year sentence for homosexual offences.
Director: Gareth Armstrong.
With an original musical score by Simon Slater.
Performer: Gerard Logan
Gerard Logan trained at the RADA, where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He has played leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company (where he received an Olivier Award nomination), the National Theatre and in the West End.
Gerard won The Stage Newspapers Best Solo Performer Award at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival for his performance in Shakespeares great narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece which, alongside Wilde Without the Boy he will be performing each day at Assembly (Baillie Room), throughout the whole of Edinburgh 2015. Both shows are directed by the acclaimed and award-winning director Gareth Armstrong.
Last year Gerard won the Best Actor award at the Buxton Fringe Theatre Festival for his performance in Wilde Without the Boy.
The Ballad of Reading Gaol performances are in aid of Amnesty International
