Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde

Michael Emerson portrays Oscar Wilde as an elegant, pensive, arrogant aesthete with great vulnerabilities. His performance is incomparable; he delivers his lines with such fluidity and command that Mr. Emerson seems to channel rather than "act."

...During the last trial Mr. Wilde sits center stage alone, a loud heartbeat fills the theatre. The stage is aglow with crimson light thoughout as two sharp pin spots, aimed upward at Mr.Wilde's face, cast strong shadows on either side of the stage. The back curtains part and there stand five men in shadow, each in turn face the audience and scream out bits of angry testimonies against the accused...The heart beats louder, Mr. Wilde's voice becomes a cry of torment. The walls glow brighter. As the cacophony reaches almost deafening proportions, Mr. Wilde screams his retort.

"I feel inclined to stretch out my hands and cry to them: Do what you will with me in God's name, only do it quickly. Can you not see I'm worn out? If hatred gives you pleasure, indulge it."

"My name is Charles Parker, I'm twenty-one years of age. Mr. Wilde committed sodomy on me...."

"My name is Alfred Wood, I'm twenty-two years old, Mr. Wilde..."

"My name is Fred Atkins, I am twenty years old. Three times Mr. Wilde..."

"I am a waiter in a private hotel at 10 Saint Jame's Place. A number of young men of quite inferior station called there to see Mr. Wilde."

"I am the house keeper. After Mr. Wilde's visit, the sheets were stained in a peculiar way."

" I am a professor of massage. Once I saw a young man in bed..."