Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde is a 1997 play written by Moisés Kaufman. It deals with Oscar Wilde's three trials on the matter of his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas and others, which led to charges of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons". The play uses real quotes and transcripts of the three trials.

The first trial was a private prosecution for criminal libel brought against Douglas's father the Marquess of Queensberry by Wilde himself (which he lost); the second and third were on the resulting criminal charges against Wilde, with the second reaching no verdict and the third resulting in a conviction and sentence to hard labour.

Performances

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde was staged Off-Broadway at the Greenwich House,^[1][2] and received two critically acclaimed stagings in Los Angeles: one at the Mark Taper Forum in 1998^[3] and the other by director Susan Lee at the Eclectic Theatre in 2009.^[4][5]

References