Polygon

Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes

An afternoon with Oscar Wilde

6 July – 24 August 2025

Sundays 6, 13, 20, 27 July | 12pm and 2pm
Sundays 3, 10, 17, 24 August | 12pm and 2pm

Join us for an afternoon of Oscar Wilde with Neil Titley's Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes. Presented in a special, limited run and performed by actor Will Govan, this wonderfully witty and sincere show will teleport audience goers to 1898 Paris, one year after Wilde’s release from prison. 

The play draws on Wilde’s letters, essays and anecdotes to bring his spirit to life in a 60-minute performance which will appeal as much to those who know little about the writer as it will to those who admire his work. Titley balances Wilde’s almost dutiful humour with an unsentimental portrayal of his suffering in Reading Gaol, and his bitter perception of man’s inhumanity to man.

UK born actor Will Govan attended the Heatherley School of Fine Art in London, before pursuing a career in publishing & journalism as the co-founder of The Moth magazine. Having performed Shakespeare in his youth, Will has recently returned to his first artistic love and revived the award-winning Moth Productions theatre to take on the role of Oscar Wilde in Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes

“Charming and witty” – The Irish Times
“Funny and melancholic” – The Times

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