Experience the “Double Life” with Dorian in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Unlike his name, there’s nothing gray about Dorian or this show!
Adapted from Oscar Wilde’s popular classic The Picture of Dorian Gray, director Kip Williams brought this theatrical masterpiece to London, where the novel itself was written, and the same theatre—Theatre Royal Haymarket—where Wilde has premiered two of his plays.
It tells a story of a young man falling into immorality and ironically, the story has a moral: “All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment” (Wilde in a letter to St. James’s Gazette).
The plot of the play is kept the same as the book. If you have not read the book, it is about a handsome, impressionable young boy that gets his portrait painted by his artist friend, Basil Hallward.
It is during these painting sessions that he meets the philosophical Lord Henry Wotton. He has influenced Dorian with his hedonistic beliefs and in turn, instilled a fear of growing old and ugly in the young boy.
When the portrait is done, Dorian realizes that he will never be as young and beautiful as he was in the portrait. However, later, he discovers something radical about it which would alter his life forever.
I will stop here because I don’t want to spoil too much of the story and it would give you an incentive to watch this masterpiece of a play or even pick up the favourite book of mine!
Award-winning Sarah Snook does it all by playing a total of 26 characters in the show, from Dorian to the minor characters. You would think that since it’s a one-woman show, it would be filled with monologues after monologues, but it amazingly wasn’t! Snook displays her impressive acting skills, being able to pull off every single character so seamlessly, changing her voice and expression as if it was natural to her.
It almost felt like she is acting along with other actors, but she really wasn’t alone on stage because there were camera people and other stage creatives on stage with her.
You might wonder “why are the backstage actors there?” but that’s because the play also takes advantage of the modern times by using a lot of technology. This is crucial to the smooth execution of the one-woman show and you will understand why once you’ve watch it.
I don’t want to over-explain since it would just take the fun out of things and in the words of Lord Henry “to define is to limit”.
Truly, this play has a special place in my heart as a Dorian Gray fan.
if you are interested to see how modern technology brought this Victorian story to life, then click the link below for the tickets.
You have to hurry because the last show is on May 11th!
Written by Althea Scully