Gregory Prest’s De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail is currently playing at Soulpepper. It’s the same production (more or less… it may have been shortened by a few minutes) and the same cast as when first performed in February 2024 and I feel pretty much the same about it as I did that first time. It’s a terrific piece of theatre and I’m not sure I can greatly improve on what i wrote back then. There were though a few things that jumped out at me more this time.

The play opens with a very funny dialogue between Robbie (Jonathan Corkal-Astorga) and Wilde (Damien Atkins) sort of half in character, discussing the demerits of the audience and asking for a new one. This is followed by Atkins; now definitely in character, reading a fable about a lord raising a lion cub that eventually grows up and eats him. We see references to this at intervals during the show where Bosie (Colton Curtis) makes growling noises and clawing gestures towards Wilde. There are more asides to the audience than I remember too. An Irish ballad morphs into something much more dramatic and Atkins turns to the audience with a “You weren’t expecting that, were you?”. Overall it’s campier (and funnier) than I remembered.

I was also even more impressed by the stagecraft involved. The set (Lorenzo Savoini) is really clever. The space can be expanded and contracted and made deeper or shallower; all of which is heightened by the use of light frames and projections (Frank Donato); sometimes quite beautiful, sometimes terrifying. The same is true of the lighting (also Savoini) and the sound design (Olivia Wheeler) which at times are also quite alarming. The scenes where a recording of the judge’s words at Wilde’s trial are played over scary projections are especially effective. It’s the usual judgy, moralistic BS… “Never in all my years on the bench etc”… but it’s loud and impactful.

In the end though it’s still about the performances. Atkins, on stage all the time, is incredible. He switches gears seamlessly from an almost sympathetic portrayal of Wilde’s self-exculpatory whining to song and dance acts. It’s startling and compelling. He’s wonderfully well supported by the highly athletic Curtis and the quietly effective Corkal-Astorga who also plays keyboards.

I don’t usually enjoy remounts as much as the the initial run but I found De Profundis just as effective second time around. It runs at the Young Centre until November 29th.

Photo credit: Dahlia Katz