Oscar Wilde drama set for Hilton Park

Hilton Park in Scotshouse is the latest setting for a drama that reflects on the rise and fall of Oscar Wilde.

The Moth’s production ‘Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes’ stars Will Govan as Oscar Wilde.

And what an apt setting it is, as the house has some surprising connections with the famous writer.

The estate has been in the family for ten generations, since philanthropist Samuel Madden purchased it in 1734, and has seen many people pass through its doors, among them a regular visitor, Ian Ross.

Ross was a co-founder of the 1960s pirate station Radio Caroline and founder of Flipper’s, the first roller disco in Los Angeles, a magnet for musicians such as Cher and Elton John. Ross, fondly remembered by Lucy and Johnnie Madden, is also the nephew of Robbie Ross, Oscar Wilde’s constant friend throughout his short life.

And less than 10 kilometres from Hilton Park, in Drumsnatt Graveyard, lie Oscar Wilde’s half-sisters, Emily, aged 24, and Mary, aged 22. The “illegitimate” daughters of the renowned eye and ear surgeon Sir William Wilde had been sent to County Monaghan to be looked after by their relative, Reverend Ralph Wilde.

In November 1871 they were invited to attend a ball, given in their honour, at Drumacon House in nearby Smithboro.

Towards the end of the party, the host asked Mary for one last dance around the ballroom. Mary’s dress brushed against some candlesticks and her dress caughtfire. In her panic, she dashed towards her sister Emily, whose own dress was then set ablaze. They died some weeks later from their injuries.

The 17-year-old Oscar may not have been aware of the existence of his half-sisters, but he was still reeling from the loss of his ten-year-old sister Isola to a bout of fever five years earlier.

Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes is set in Paris in 1898 – a year after Oscar Wilde’s release from prison in the UK, where, at the height of his fame, he served two years hard labour for “gross indecency with men”.

Impoverished and in failing health, Wilde stays alone at a dingy hotel in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and spends what little money he has on alcohol.

“This poverty really breaks one’s heart,” he wrote to his publisher, “it is so filthy, so utterly depressing, so hopeless, pray do what you can.” He was to die two years later, at the age of 46, in exile from his family and his home.

In 1950, on the 50th anniversary of Wilde’s death, an urn containing Robbie Ross’s ashes was placed into Wilde’s tomb in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Despite the tragedy that marred his life, Wilde remains one of Ireland’s greatest wits, which Neil Titley’s Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes brilliantly and lovingly evokes, and this night at Hilton Park promises to be a piece of theatrical magic.

Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes by Neil Titley starring Will Govan as Oscar Wilde takes place in Hilton Park, Clones, on Friday, June 16 at 8pm. Tickets available via themothmagazine.com or Eventbrite