reach as wide an audience as
possible. “Cultivating newspaper coverage and meetings with
American literary giants, the tour
made Wilde the second bestknown Brit in the country after
Queen Victoria, despite having
published almost nothing,” as
Kevin C. Shelly points out.
Whitman, overwhelmed by Wilde’s many statements, mixed in
with his compliments, blurts out,
“You have thrown more ideas
at me in an hour than fifteen
other men I might know. You are
smart, and you see something.
But you have to stop staring all
mooney eyed at ancient ruins.
You no more live in an ancient
temple than I do. You want to
live in the world—live in the
world.”
Whistler’s new play, based on
historical facts and imagined
conversations between two famous writers (the Walnut Street
production was directed by
Greg Wood and starred Daniel Fredrick as Oscar Wilde and
Buck Schirner as Walt Whitman),
opens new doors, shows an insecure young Wilde who seems
to hide behind “aesthetics and
art” while Whitman teaches
Wilde more than he might have
bargained for, advising him, “Go
see America. Go see the world.
Find out what creature you are.
And for all the frippery—be honest. With us, and with yourself.”
Mickle Street ended its run at
Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre on March 8. With any luck
this tale, which involves one of
New Jersey’s most famous artists, will see a production in the
Garden State in the future.
New Jersey Stage
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** Note, this article contains material first published in phindie.
com and the Philadelphia Gay
News. Henrik Eger interviews
the playwright, Michael Whistler,
in our April issue. **
Events
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