Wilde Times

Watching an Oscar Wilde play in full flight is one thing, right? As in Alan Stanford s meticulously directed version of An Ideal Husband, now running at Dublin s Gate Theatre. But being up there on stage, luxuriating in those sensuous one-liners, moving with sheer delight around his magnificent monologues, must be heaven for an actor. Absolutely, according to Elizabeth P. Moynihan, who plays Lady Basildon in that production.
Firstly, I identify with Wilde s vulnerability, his idea and glamour, and I love his wit, she enthuses. But what I love most of all are his one liners. An Ideal Husband also is incredibly relevant and contemporary, particularly in terms of the subject of corruption in politics. It s timeless in that sense. Yet I ll tell you what is really wonderful about acting in a play by Oscar Wilde! You don t have to relate to anybody! It s a scary feeling for an actor but, on another level, it s your fantasy. Because in Wilde, every line is about you. And how clever, witty you are, not about ensemble acting!
That said, Elizabeth admits that one specific scene between the couple whose marriage is the point-of-focus of An Ideal Husband, has great depth, is deeply moving and offsets this perceived notion that Wilde was only a master of great one liners.
And Wilde has become my favourite playwright out of this experience. In the play he constantly berates the concept of genius but that is a word that must come to mind when you think of Oscar Wilde, she says.
To some, appearing in a Wilde play at the Gate may seem a long way from Elizabeth s more normal theatrical fare: as actor/producer with Dublin s far more left-of-field Focus Theatre. In fact, the current run of lunchtime plays she d producing, (Last Man Down by Tommy O Neill; Stump by Liam Brennan and Pizza Boy by Pat Garret) have been so successful, they transfer to an evening slot starting September 6th.
I ve been with the Focus for six years, or so, came out of Stanislavski, that s my training she asserts.
And though both may seem like different ends of the theatrical spectrum, to me theatre is theatre. Especially when you are working with people like Alan Stanford. Or Dierdre O Connell in the Focus. Alan, for example, is an actor s director. He treats the leads exactly the same as the smaller players. Total equality. And everything you have to say is valid, any ideas on the production, different characters in the play, everything he will listen to. And he s constantly reminding us that we are the best possible cast for the job boosting our confidence from day one. Dierdre, too, as an actor/director also has that innate understanding. And, apart from handing over the lunch-time productions to me, last year, she has given me so many great lead acting roles in the Focus, been my mentor in every way. Where else, in this town, would I get opportunities like that, if I haven t come up through the system? In that sense, I really have been blessed.
The latter comment takes on an additional weight when one remembers that Elizabeth s husband died of heart failure five years ago. Theatre, she says has really helped me come to terms with that, though it can get dangerous, tapping into those shadows to get a handle on a part. You never know what you may unleash. Quite. But shifting the focus back to the Focus, Elizabeth P. Moynihan, suggests it often is forgotten how many great Irish actors of renown are graduates of Dierdre O Connell s theatre.
Gabriel Byrne, Olwen Feure, Joan Bergin, the list is endless she says. And not only that, the Focus is committed to producing new writings, which is the whole concept behind those lunch-time productions. And Dierdre herself, really is the reason for the success of the Focus. She keeps it going on the smell of an oil rag. I don t know how she does it.
Yes, we get an Arts Council grant but there s always the need for more money. For example, we could do with new seating, a new roof and another loo but, despite all that, it really is her dedication to a particular vision of theatre that is so inspiring. Especially, those times when you begin to falter and wonder have you chosen the right road in life at all. So, between playing Lady Basildon at the Gate and working at the Focus, I must say I couldn t be happier than I am right now, as an actor. It s times like this I definitely know I did choose the right road.