To mark Oscar Wilde's 169th birthday on October 16, 2023, we held the very first edition of Oscariana: A Wilde Dublin Festival, from October 14th - 16th. Oscariana explored and celebrated the birth, life, and legacy of one of Ireland’s most famous sons, through house tours, music, poetry, theatre, art, children’s stories, and cinema.
Across the inaugural three-day festival, live events at 1 Merrion Square North included tours of his childhood home and performances of The Importance of Being Oscar, Micheál Mac Liammóir’s play on the life of Wilde, performed by Michael Judd. And for young Wildeans, Oscar’s Nursery hosted readings of his most magical fairy tales The Happy Prince and The Nightingale and The Rose, with storyteller Emily Collins.
On October 15, The Lighthouse cinema in Smithfield screened the amazing Technicolor version of the 1952 movie The Importance of Being Earnest, and on Monday October 16, The Stella in Rathmines screened the 1945 film-noir version of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
On Oscar's birthday, October 16, Oscariana invited Wilde fans from across the globe to gather for Speranza’s Salon. The online cinematic event, featured musical and poetic performances streamed from the Wilde House. Artists included Conor O’Brien (Villagers), award-winning composer Sarah Lynch and guitarist Shane Kavanagh, folksters The Silken Same, singer-songwriter Rhob Cunningham, Cormorant Tree Oh, Martin Mackie and the Dunning-Kruger Effect, poets Caoimhe Lavelle, Julian Bernard and Ruairi Conneely, and Dublin artist Gerard Byrne painted one if his famous sunflower works from Speranza's Salon.
