The Happy Prince review: Alluring production of Oscar Wilde’s story without the decadent comedown

The statue of a prince peers into the lives of a city's misfortunate inhabitants, in Oscar Wilde's story for children. 

Bewley's Café Theatre @ the Irish Georgian Society, Dublin

★ ★ ★

Bewley’s Café Theatre has been through the mill. Broken fragments of old, decorative stonework lie across its stage. Salvaged columns from a previous era extend to a broken fanlight above, forming a handsomely decrepit proscenium arch. These are either artefacts on display by its temporary venue, the Irish Georgian Society, or the theatre has taken a bruising by having its doors closed by the pandemic. 

There is a more intriguing idea in this decision to revive Michael James Ford’s 2003 adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s story for children, itself a decadent blend of glamour and decline. What could have been a convenient, economic production from the theatre’s repertoire instead seems fittingly chosen for the beautiful, crumbling plasterwork and sculptures of the surroundings.

The statue of a late prince, after a lifetime of splendid privilege and shunned displays of emotion, stands high on a column. He is a beloved symbol of wealth and beauty, but spends his days peering sadly into the windows of the city’s most impoverished inhabitants. When an adventurous feathered vertebrate Sparrow abandons his warmer climate for this chilly place, he befriends the Happy Prince and they set out to aide those struggling to survive. 

Ford is well aware of this double-act in Wilde’s story. As a narrator resplendent in a black suit and pearlescent bowtie, his attention is to jewel-like intonation while the dynamic shifts in Philip Dodd’s violin music - played by the excellent Denice Doyle - keeps the pace breezy. In other words, this looks like a duet between a sculptural object and a generous song.

We follow Sparrow as he wings past grand city monuments, carrying valuable gifts from the Happy Prince - the sapphire gems that are his eyes, the gold-leaf that adorns his coat - to children ill and starving. One uplifting scene even sees a hard-working playwright, living in the bitter frost of poverty, receiving a helping hand.

Such storytelling may glint and sparkle but director Bairbre Ní Chaoimh’s production denies the more stirring ingredients of Wilde’s decadent prose, principally its tragedy. When the story steers towards its sad conclusion, and the fates of the Happy Prince and Sparrow are revealed, there is barely a moment to mourn before the violin sweeps us towards the next plot point. In a tale of self-sacrifice, that’s quite a thing to forfeit 

The absence of that comedown could suggest a production that’s all allure and no depth but, in an attempt to give it something new among the stylish ruins of the Irish Georgian Society, The Happy Prince is no museum piece either. 

Runs until Aug 15th.