In Extremis – Bewley’s Cafe Theatre – Review
by Frank L

In Extremis – written by Neil Bartlett
Date – July 21st – August 16th, 2025

On 24th March 1895, Oscar Wilde attended on Mrs Robinson, a society palmist, in her rooms in London. It was about a week before his libel trial against the Marquess of Queensberry was scheduled to begin. No one knows what happened at that encounter. Bartlett, in this witty two-hander, replete with some Wildean witticisms, imagines what may have happened.

The set is dominated by two large drapes of maroon plush, which evoke the cluttered décor of the late nineteenth century. There are two chairs and a table draped with an off white material. Suspended from the ceiling is a small gilded birdcage – it is a cage from which a bird might escape. Bartlett imagines that Wilde went to Mrs. Robinson to discover what the future held for him. The underlying, but unmentioned, premise was that he had some nervousness about the upcoming trial. If he lost, there was a substantial risk that he might be prosecuted for indecent acts as a homosexual. He could, of course, flee England and get a ferry to France, where the laws were more accommodating. The bird cage symbolises the libel birdcage which Wilde had himself created.

Mrs. Robinson (Gene Rooney), suitably attired as a medium, explains at the beginning that no one knows what happened at their meeting because both she and Wilde are dead. But she reimagines the meeting with Wilde (Conor Hanratty). He makes no mention of the upcoming libel trial. The language that she used is appropriately ambiguous. History tells us how he interpreted her words in the short term. Her words, on the other hand, in the long term show perception. It is an astute piece of writing and suitably clever when Wilde is the subject matter.

Rooney and Hanratty meld extremely well together as her commercial need to make an “honest” buck encounters his need to discover what the future may hold for him. Hanratty has to deliver some well-known, almost hackneyed Wildean lines, and he does so convincingly. Rooney and Wilde draw you into their respective worlds.

The entire is a delightful theatrical encounter. It adds another detail, albeit imaginary, to the fascinating aura that surrounds the genius and the mystery that is Oscar Wilde.

Cast & Crew: 

WRITTEN BY: Neil Bartlett
DIRECTED BY: Joan Sheehy
PERFORMED BY: Conor Hanratty & Gene Rooney
SET DESIGN: Paul Keoghan
LIGHTING DESIGN: Colm Maher​
SOUND DESIGN: Denis Clohessy
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Gavin Doyle

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