Is the Duchess of Padua cursed, or is it just a Wilde story?

Published: 15 April 2010
by JOSH LOEB

IS it just a case of bad luck or is there really a curse over the least-performed of Oscar Wilde’s plays? That is the question a group of thespians are asking themselves this week after illness forced one of their number to pull out of a production of Wilde’s tragedy, The Duchess of Padua, which had been due to get its UK premiere on Tuesday at Pentameters Theatre, Hampstead. 

Generations of Wilde obsessives have heard tales of actors and producers falling ill or “going mad” while rehearsing the five-act work, which has been produced only a handful of times worldwide.

Though Wilde wrote the play 127 years ago it has never been perform­ed publicly in England before – and now it seems the curse of the Duchess has struck again. 

On Tuesday director Rafe Beckley said he was delaying the opening by a week. 

He said: “One of the actors is lying in bed with massively high blood pressure. We are frantically trying to recast the part.”  

Mr Beckley added that he preferred to delay the opening rather than stick to the timetable and compromise the artistic integrity of the piece. 

Eminent academics had been planning to attend, including a group of Wilde experts known as The Oscholars.  

Mr Beckley said: “We think this is such an important show that we’d rather delay it by a week. That is a brave decision by Léonie [Scott-Matthews, who runs Pentameters] because it means losing money.” 

Yesterday (Wednes­day) the New Journal learnt Peter Gerald from Kentish Town-based theatre company Giant Olive was stepping in to play the role.