Vincent Price's Own Script for Oscar Wilde One-Man Show

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This is an unbelievable group of items related to Diversions and Delights , the one-man show about Oscar Wilde that Vincent Price performed for over 10 years. Many people feel this was his finest performance of all. Written by John Gay and directed by Joe Hardy, the play premiered in 1977 at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre to great acclaim. Price performed the play around the world for another 10 years to resounding success. The conceit of the play was based on the actual last year of Wilde's life, when he had moved to France and was living under a pseudonym--Sebastian Melmouth. The play imagines Wilde giving a lecture as Melmouth as a means of raising funds. Both poignant and witty, the play deals openly with Wilde's relationship with Bosie (Lord Alfred Douglas) and his jail sentence, as well as includes all of the wit for which Wilde was duly famous. This group includes Vincent Price's own script--cut and pasted together, complete with notes, autographed on the cover. It includes handwritten notes on Price's stationary, three programs--two from ACT, and one from NYC's Roundabout Theatre, and a photograph of Price as Wilde. This extraordinary grouping captures the complete experience of Price as Oscar Wilde. (A video of his performance was never made, and only one tape recording exists.) About Vincent Price and Diversions and Delights: Despite having appeared on the stage throughout his career, Vincent Price's greatest theatrical triumph was undoubtedly his one-man show, Diversions and Delights, in which he played the playwright and author Oscar Wilde. Written by dramatist John Gay (allegedly while waiting out the famed Writers Guild of America strike), the play is set in a Parisian concert hall on the Rue de la Pepinier in 1899 - about a year before Wilde's death, at the age of 46. In an attempt to earn some much-needed money, Wilde is speaking to the audience about his life, his works and, in Act Two, about his love for Lord Alfred Douglas. A Note: On the condition of Mr Wilde for this performance. Mr Wilde is suffering from an infection of the inner ear as well as other maladies and the management hopes this will be taken into consideration. The Reaction When Diversions and Delights opened in San Francisco at the Marine's Memorial Theatre on July 11, 1977, critics raved over Price's performance. 'A delight, witty and moving' (Clive Barnes, New York Post) 'Vincent Price is a master' (Wall Street Journal) 'Wonderfully moving' (Washington Post) 'A virtuoso performance' (New York Post) "Vincent Price is a 'Wilde' delight" (Variety) The original tour was a success in every city it played, except New York City, w its Broadway run at the Eugene O'Neill theatre lasted only 13 performances in April 1978. But the show was better suited to intimate venues in which 'Price's magnetism and Wilde's tragedy could touch audiences on a personal level.' In the summer of 1979 he performed the show at the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado on the same stage that Wilde had spoken to the miners about art some 96 years before. Price on Wilde T are very few famous men or women whose character, humanity, humor or even tragedy can survive the scrutiny of a one man show by that I mean author, actor and audience scrutiny. Oscar Wilde is the ideal personage to be examined by all this revealing kind of theatre presentation. The fame of his wit is enough justification, but underneath the brilliant facade is a very human being, vulnerable to his own fame, his own strengths and weaknesses, and a human being who inspires a kind of very real and identifiable admiration and appreciation. For the actor, the assumption of such a volatile personality is not only challenging but thrilling, by the very nature of this audience identification. Wilde, and through his genius, the actor seems to have something to say to everyone. He becomes almost lovable in his self-conscious avoidance of love-ability. He is admirable for his ability to admire his own talent and to make it so especially his own. He is unique and that one-of-a-kind... read more

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