Theatre audience allowed inside Oscar Wilde jail

A theatre company has been given permission to perform inside an empty jail that once held Oscar Wilde.

Rabble Theatre's event in the summer will be the first time Reading Prison's doors open to the public since it was bought from the Ministry of Justice by Chinese businessman Channing Bi for £7m.

Mr Bi, who founded the Ziran Education Foundation, said in October he hoped to turn the site into a hotel, museum and art gallery.

Rabble's artistic director Toby Davies, who has campaigned for the jail to be saved for artistic purposes, said: "It's a nice nudge in the right direction."

Mr Bi said previously his plans did not include building flats on any part of the site and a portrait by celebrated street artist Banksy, that appeared on the prison wall in 2021, would "of course" stay.

In January, an augmented-reality exhibition allowed members of the public to view artwork hung on the walls via a smartphone app, without entering the building.

During the Rabble event on 28 June, the audience inside the prison will be treated to a "rare deep dive" into the creative process behind Rabble's new play, William the Conqueror, said the theatre company.

It will take place inside the Victorian prison's Old Chapel.

Associate writer Beth Flintoff, Mr Davies, actors, a composer and movement director will talk the audience through the project, demonstrate some scenes and the creation of the soundtrack, Mr Davies told the BBC.

The play is being developed with investment from Arts Council England.

Mr Davies said: "What happened to Oscar Wilde was wrong and sad but if we can produce thought-provoking, life-affirming theatre in the space, then perhaps that's a little green carnation of justice.

"We hope that our work paves the way for other artistic ventures to take place inside this extraordinary historical site."

Oscar Wilde spent two years at the prison after being convicted in 1895 of gross indecency - effectively for being gay.

He spent the last three years of his life in exile in France, where he composed his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, describing an execution at the prison.

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