It’s been 20 years since the Australian Ballet created an original production. The world premiere of Oscar, created by Christopher Wheeldon, is innovative, impactful and powerful, challenging audiences by presenting a story not typically seen in classical ballet.

Commissioned by Australian Ballet Artistic Director David Hallberg, the goal was to create a bold story that the audience would relate to. Believing viewers were ready for a production that pushed their perception of what ballet could be and that there has been a lack of representation of gay stories, the duo felt a gay ballet narrative was overdue, and it was time to enter a new era.

World-renowned British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s Oscar is a full-length ballet of the life and stories of writer Oscar Wilde. The real-life narrative of Wilde is cleverly told through his memories as he languishes in jail, with his written works – The Nightingale and the Rose and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The ballet opens with Wilde on trial for the crime of “gross indecency”. Stage actor Seán O’Shea narrates the scene, explaining that the writer lived during a time of British society that persecuted him for his homosexuality. Wilde, although married with children when sent to prison, was living a double life (just as his fictional character Jack plays in The Importance of Being Earnest). Throughout the ballet, the story characters come to life, bringing a new dimension to Wilde, the literary genius, interpreted through the characters he wrote about.

Jarryd Madden performs the role of Wilde with strength and poignancy. Madden plays the flamboyant personality, while also expressing the agony of the tortured writer beautifully.

As we watch the fall of the dandy who was once the toast of society, peacocking and living a privileged life, we see how the complexity of forbidden love destroys him. The moralistic stories serve to show the consequences of desire and love. In Act 1, Wilde, fading in jail, remembers happier times reading his fairytale The Nightingale and the Rose to his children. The stage backdrop fills with scripted text (through the video design of David Bergman) and Principal Dancer Ako Kondo takes to the stage in a bird costume, playing the part of the self-sacrificing Nightingale.

Act 1 also introduces Wilde’s first male love interest, Robbie Ross (played by Joseph Caley). The passion of the lovers expressed through dance. As the men first come together, they dance into one another, their bodies overlapping. With each movement, each touch, they ease lower and lower to the ground, succumbing to one another. It’s a seduction of equal agreement.

Whilst male dancers take centre stage, the women in Wilde’s life appear briefly, including his poor suffering wife Constance, performed by Sharni Spencer. Along with three character actresses, Benedicte Bemet as Sara Bernhardt, Mia Heathcote as Lillie Langtry and Jill Ogai as Ellen Terry.

Wheeldon, who most recently partnered with composer Joby Talbot for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, came together once again, creating a score with full orchestral symphonies. From dramatic music to operatic melodies, the pair work in perfect synchrony.

The second half of the performance is a much darker, frantic pace. Wilde, two years into his prison sentence, is declining mentally and physically. Wheeldon uses The Picture of Dorian Gray to highlight his descent into moral decay to mirror that of Wilde’s own life.

The music shifts to a high pitch, a nod to the torturous tinnitus sound Wilde hears. And as he delves in the hedonistic London underworld shown through cabaret clubs, Talbot cleverly brings deep techno beats into the dance. The music pulses as the dancers become more energetic.

Enthralling as the production is, the tale is tragic for the prolific writer. Following his release from prison, Wilde left England for France, dying from illness only three years later, at only 46 years of age. It’s also said he lost his love for writing during his time locked away.

4.5 stars.

Playing at the Sydney Opera House from 8 November to 23 November 2024.