“She’s a skittish trout when she’s
of a mind.” While she may not always understand the man whom
she observes from her prim and
proper perspective, she nevertheless serves as a balancing
force throughout the play.
Audiences in Britain and the US
at the time laughed at Wilde, the
talented but attention-craving
poet — the way Americans today make fun of the not so witty
Paris Hilton and the Kardashians.
Unfazed, Wilde loves playing
the role of the enfant terrible —
dressed to the hilt, posy in his
lapel. In Whistler’s adaptation,
Wilde even encourages the attention: “I want to shock.”
Whistler imagines a conversation between two writers: Whitman, with all his foibles, clear ǐ