Director/choreographer TRACY COLLIER (also a stage and television actress since 1979) has staged new touring musical Vengeance: The Demise of Oscar Wilde, opening this week at the new Esher Theatre in Surrey.
The musical, based on the Marquess of Queensberry’s relentless, vindictive pursuit of Oscar Wilde which eventually destroyed both men, has been created by husband and wife team John Merrigan (book) and Danielle Morgan (score).
Here, Tracy speaks to Musical Theatre Review about how she became involved with Vengeance: The Demise of Oscar Wilde, the telling of Oscar Wilde’s story from a different perspective, the important role of women in the piece and how the production’s themes might resonate with a contemporary audience.
When did you come on board as director of Vengeance: The Demise of Oscar Wilde?
Just before Christmas. I had a meal with Danni and John and they casually let it slip they needed a director for the show moving forward. It was of course a set up. I had joined the show in its second outing earlier in the year and it had been originally put on during very strict Covid restrictions, so it was in real need of freeing up.
What has it been like to be in a rehearsal room again with a cast and creatives after such a challenging time for theatre?
It has been amazing. I must admit it is quite scary going back in with restrictions lifted, as Covid hasn’t disappeared, we are just learning to live with it. But to be fair we are all testing before we enter the space and so it feels as safe as it possibly can. And the freedom to interact and find real connections with people again is off the scale in terms of what makes us human. Everyone has been working so hard and really investing everything they have in the rehearsal room. I think it’s what we all needed after being shackled for so long. I am just so grateful my beloved theatre is not dead. She survived a pretty choppy storm.
How have you seen the piece change and develop as a musical?
The thing I love about the writing of this piece is that it is not conventionally a musical as such. The music has a different function. It is about the inner life of the characters and doesn’t necessary forward the plot, it just allows us an insight into the characters themselves. It is so beautifully written that the songs and the play could stand alone. They feed each other but they don’t need each other. It’s a very strong piece. New songs have been added over time to develop a character or their journey, and allow us to get a much more rounded view of who they are and what they need. I think we might be done with new songs as we don’t want to overload it. It has a good flow now.
John and Danielle wish to tell the Oscar Wilde story from a different perspective. Can you tell us more about that and how that has influenced the way you have staged the piece?
This is very much about the other people in the story as well as Wilde himself, and how their decisions and values influenced the outcome. I think the writing and song content does this beautifully. My aim in this version is to make sure that all the characters are fully formed. There are a couple of characters who are villains in the piece but that is not the whole story, and I have tried to get the sense that there are always two sides to the coin and that we need to see both. It is the audience’s job to judge, not mine. The story has to be told in a way that gives us the facts but also the reasons why those choices were made. There are a lot of heart-breaking moments for all the characters. But it is also important that we see their joy too. People are never just one colour.
It is tricky sometimes to balance the exposition associated with a true story and related historical facts and the drama playing out onstage, how have you tackled that?
Robbie Ross, a dear friend of Wilde’s has the unenviable task of narrating but also participating in the story. It is important that the story is told with the necessary facts but not too many. The writing again balances this well. There are times when Robbie does tell us about an event, and then he shows us, either by passing us to a scene that continues that account or steps into it himself. I also feel it’s important that the exposition isn’t morbid, as although much of the story is, as the title suggests, about the demise of Wilde, and so therefore Robbie’s point of view is tragic, it is important again that his narration doesn’t colour the way he feels the audience should view the event.
I believe the women in Oscar Wilde’s life play a more significant role in the storytelling than they usually do?
Yes, this is a joy to me. There are only three of the women, who played a significant role in his life, in the play, although there were many more. Oscar Wilde loved women and admired them. The two biggest influences were his mother Lady Jane Wilde, or as she preferred to be called, Speranza, and Constance, his wife.
Speranza especially made a huge impact on his life, he adored her and took her advice on all matters. She was also a poet herself and very political, which again influenced Wilde’s take on things. His wife, Constance, again a writer herself, and a very strong woman, played a massive part in how he presented himself after their marriage. Under her advice, he got his hair cut, to help with how he was viewed. Both women adored each other and their relationship is also explored in the play. Then there is Madame Dupoirier who was the owner of the hotel in France where Oscar finally died. She looked after him in his final months.
Do you think some of the show’s themes will resonate with a contemporary audience?
Sadly, yes. The corruption in Parliament and the secretive goings-on in the corridors of power seem to been the same today as they were then. Also the pointless and extremely harmful prejudices against people different from ourselves, for no better reason than fear and a lack of understanding and compassion.
You have directed both straight plays and musicals, what do you think it is that this score adds to the narrative?
I think that the story needs to be strong in both plays and musicals, and so what has happened here is that we have a play that doesn’t need music and music that doesn’t need a play. So they are so strong in their own right that when you combine them the result is something very difficult to identify. But they live together in a space where you couldn’t imagine one without the other. It is quite extraordinary. The depth of emotion held within the score is tangible from the first note.
What is it like working with a husband and wife team?
Danni and John are amazing people to work for and with. Their energy and enthusiasm and support is astounding. They have committed 100% to this project and their love for this piece and the theatre knows no bounds. We are now a family and I would go to the ends of the earth for them. They are both are so strong in what they believe is the right thing for this show. Sometimes they don’t agree, but we all fight it out together. There is a lot of laughter and so much love. I consider it one of the most precious gifts I have been granted to work with them.
You have also enjoyed an impressive career as an actress, do you feel that gives you an extra string to your bow as a director?
I have been so lucky in my life and my career. Yes, I have had a very successful career as an actress, and still do. I am just starting a tour of Sheila’s Island. But directing has certainly given me so much joy and a fair amount of work for which I am grateful. I am also a movement director and a choreographer so I have always been a creative alongside my acting, I really love being on both sides of the footlights. It actually makes me a better actor, as I understand the bigger picture, and that it’s not always about me. In fact it very rarely is.
Impossible question, but can you pick out a particular highlight from your career so far (you can always pick two, one as an actor and one as director?).
I am not just saying this, but as a director, this project has been both the biggest challenge and the most rewarding. New work is always inspirational and especially with the creative team I am working with on it. As an actor, I think that it would be hard to beat Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Having said that, I love my work and am so grateful to be doing something I love as a job. It’s not everyone who wakes up in the morning excited to go to work. And for that I will always be grateful. I tend to love the thing I am doing at the moment, if I am being completely honest. So it’s important that I pick my projects well.
Fatdan Productions’ Vengeance: The Demise of Oscar Wilde plays at the new Esher Theatre in Surrey from 11-12 February 2022 before further dates at Worthing (22-23 February), Epsom (25 February), Chesham (28 February) and Hammersmith (2-3 March).
- Tracy Collier has been a stage and television actress since 1979, appearing in plays, repertory, musicals and television and has also recorded music collections and voiceovers. Most notably, Tracy has appeared in the West End, as Lady Jacqueline Carstone in Me and My Girl, and also at the National Theatre in both the Olivier and Lyttelton theatres. Tracy is also a director/choreographer and ran her own theatre company Time4Change Theatre. She played Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard at the Minack Theatre. She appears in The Sandman for Netflix, yet to be released, and is filming for ITV’s Sanditon series two.
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— Vengeance: The Demise of Oscar Wilde (@Vengeancetour) February 9, 2022
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