Metro Pulse/Backstage/Wilde West

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What:
Wilde West

When:
July 25 and 26, 8 p.m.

Where:
Laurel Theater

Cost:
$3 donation

Wilde West presents a farce that might have been

by Paige M. Travis

In 1882, Oscar Wilde toured across America, giving lectures on the Aesthetic Movement. The Irish-born poet and author of The Portrait of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest passed through frontier towns that also knew famous outlaws, such as Billy the Kid, Kid Curry and Jesse James. This is the time in American history in which Charles Marowitz's Wilde West is set. But playing fast and loose with the facts, he proposes an amusing "what if" and comes up with a farcical fantasy.

Oscar Wilde (Donnie Cantwell) and his assistant Reneville (Ken Austin) arrive in Leadville, Colo., to find the local ruffians about to hang a member of Jesse James' gang. The mustachioed Judge Cassidy (Nick Bonaker) and a jury of locals have found Jody May (Jay Schadd) guilty of robbing the bank, although their methods of justice are far from fair. Wilde takes offense at Jody's lack of defense, so he calls for an instant retrial and serves as the young man's counsel.

As we know now, Wilde was gay, and he eventually spent time in prison after being tried and convicted of homosexual activity. So Wilde's eagerness to save Jody, a youthful chap with curly blond hair, from the noose is an inside joke to the audience.

Even as funny as his idea is, Marowitz seems to have had trouble coming up with enough good material to completely fill a full-length play. Wilde West could've become like a Saturday Night Live skit-turned-movie where the joke only goes so far. Allusions to the American court system of the late 19th century are only funny so many times. But just when Wilde West starts to tread the same territory, something changes (or someone shoots a gun) and the play is saved from too much repetition.

Cantwell's performance doesn't reveal that he was called in at the last minute to help his friend, director Patrick McCray, fill the lead part that was abandoned well into rehearsals. Coming from his home in Tampa, Fla., Cantwell learned his numerous lines (as you might imagine, Wilde wasn't a man of few words) in a very short time. With a spot-on British accent, the comedic actor nails the dry-witted poet, making him completely likable. His clear delivery makes all the jokes easily accessible to the audience.

Fitchpatrick has an uncanny resemblance to John Wayne, both in face and voice, which makes his portrayal of Jesse James quite interesting. He's a good bad guy. He's tough as nails when he's fighting, but he turns into a softie when true love is at stake. Katharine Duckett is a firebrand as the infamous female outlaw Belle Starr, who stands less than 5 feet tall, and looks even shorter next to the hulking Jesse James. This simple casting choice makes their exchanges even more amusing for the classic Mutt and Jeff contrast.

Longtime local actor Nick Bonaker seems born to play Judge Cassidy. Never giving in to the distraction of his flopping false mustache, Bonaker whips out the barbs of a frontier judge who doesn't have time for justice and likes a hanging as much as the next guy. Anticipating his arrival for the trial, the town's men folk have set up in the saloon the most official looking chair they can find: a barber's chair. One of the judge's best jokes is about handing out verdicts and hair cuts.

For all its charm and beauty, the Laurel Theater doesn't have good enough acoustics for live theater. Something about the lofty and oddly-shaped ceiling, I guess. Musicians who play in the old church get the benefit of microphones, but actors have to project across the audience, which is a feat. Many lines, especially those delivered by the gentlemen of Leadville in the first act, were lost to the rafters, and I pity any folks with less-than-perfect hearing. But the actors do their best with the situation without yelling (an alternative that can be exhausting, for actor and audience alike).

Marowitz has a grand old time playing with the homoerotic nature of cowboy culture. But director McCray doesn't overdo it by having Cantwell act too fey. That would insult the audience and the gay culture. Instead, the allusions to Wilde's lifestyle are subtle, and the fictional version of the historic figure is sympathetic, almost tragic if we think about his real-life fate (untimely death at 46 of cerebral meningitis). Would Oscar Wilde like his portrayal in Wilde West? Considering he found himself infinitely fascinating and once said, "I can believe anything as long as it is incredible," the answer is a definite yes.