Paul Loosley’s Oscar and George on Film

September 17, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Join Paul Loosley, Director of Axis Films and an adjunct professor at Limkokwing University as he examines two great works by two very different Irish playwrights, George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde. Both were Dublin-born, a little more than a year apart, and while both had much to say about society, were used their remarkable writing skills to say quite dramatically different things in quite contrastingly different ways.

By examining their work, the audience is able to better understand these two highly intelligent and creative individuals, and also appreciate the messages that they were trying to convey through their works. This series of movie screenings will take place at 8:30 pm, on 18th and 25th September 2011, both at Indicine, klpac. Admission is free and is the seating arrangement.

Paul Loosely’s Oscar and George on Film

The movies that will be screened are as follows:

18th September 2011: George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion

In, surely, his most famous play, Shaw demonstrates that accent, demeanor and birthright do not guarantee innate intelligence nor moral standards or any other desirable human value. Class, even education, is an illusion. The hilarious and ingenious use of language has never been surpassed in the theatre or on the screen. In this 1938 film Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins spar brilliantly more as a modern 1930’s couple rather than the Edwardian pair of the original play. Shaw added new scenes and oversaw the whole production. And, as a result, the screenplay won an Academy Award much to Shaw’s bafflement. Starring Leslie Howard (who also co-directed) and Wendy Hiller.

25th September 2011: Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband

This was Oscar’s penultimate play. A tale of perfumed letters, stolen bracelets, past indiscretions and outright blackmail set amongst London’s noble classes. With some of Oscar’s wittiest repartee; in particular the line that could probably sum up Wilde’s own character: “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance”. This colourful 1999 film version, directed by Oliver Parker, has a brilliant cast who simply sweep through the bourgeois opulence of Victorian upper class life. The starched shirt fronts, the sumptuous gowns and the profusion of décolletages perfectly recreate a decadence anyone would envy. Starring Rupert Everett and Cate Blanchett.

For more information, please call klpac at 03 4047 9000 / 9010 or walk in to klpac at Sentul Park. Alternatively, one can also surf klpac’s website here.

Tags: George Bernard Shaw, KLPAC, Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, Limkokwing University, Malaysia, Movie Screening, Oscar Wilde, Paul Loosely