The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde

      

      OSCAR WILDE

      THE PICTURE

      OF DORIAN GRAY

      ADAPTED BY NEIL BARTLETT

The Abbey Theatre gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

      ABBEY THEATRE

      Amharclann na Mainistreach

      The Abbey Theatre is Ireland’s national theatre. It was founded by W.B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory. Since it first opened its doors in 1904 the theatre has played a vital and often controversial role in the literary, social and cultural life of Ireland.

      The Abbey produces an annual programme of diverse, engaging, innovative Irish and international theatre and invests in and promotes new Irish writers and artists.

      We do this by placing the writer and theatre-maker at the heart of all that we do, commissioning and producing exciting new work and creating discourse and debate on the political, cultural and social issues of the day. Our aim is to present great theatre in a national context so that the stories told on stage have a resonance with artists and audiences alike.

      Over the years, the Abbey Theatre has nurtured and premiered the work of major playwrights such as J.M. Synge and Sean O’Casey as well as contemporary classics from the likes of Sebastian Barry, Marina Carr, Bernard Farrell, Brian Friel, Thomas Kilroy, Tom MacIntyre, Frank McGuinness, Tom Murphy, Mark O’Rowe, Billy Roche and Sam Shepard. We also support the new generation of Irish writers at the Abbey Theatre, including Carmel Winters, Nancy Harris, Elaine Murphy, Stacey Gregg and Gary Duggan.

      None of this can happen without our audiences and our benefactors. Annie Horniman provided crucial financial support to the Abbey in its first years. And many others have followed her lead by investing in and supporting our work.

      Thank you.

       ABBEY THEATRE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

      Dr. Bryan McMahon (Chairman), Jane Brennan, Paul Davis, Moya Doherty, John Finnegan Róise Goan, Thomas Kilroy, James McNally, Mark Ryan

       ABBEY THEATRE SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM

      Fiach Mac Conghail (Director / CEO), Declan Cantwell (Director of Finance & Administration) Oonagh Desire (Director of Public Affairs & Development), Gavin Harding (Technical Director) Aideen Howard (Literary Director)

      Is í Amharclann na Mainistreach amharclann náisiúnta na hÉireann. W.B. Yeats agus an Bantiarna Augusta Gregory a bhunaigh í. Bhí, agus tá, ról ríthábhachtach agus go deimhin, ról a bhí sách conspóideach go minic, ag an amharclann i saol liteartha, sóisialta agus cultúrtha na hÉireann ó d’oscail sí a doirse den chéad uair i 1904.

      Léiríonn Amharclann na Mainistreach clár amharclannaíochta as Éirinn agus ó thíortha thar lear in aghaidh na bliana atá ilghnéitheach, tarraingteach agus nuálach agus infheistíonn sí a cuid acmhainní i nua-scríbhneoirí agus nua-ealaíontóirí na hÉireann agus cuireann sí chun cinn iad.

      Déanaimid é sin tríd an scríbhneoir agus an t-amharclannóir a chur i gcroílár an uile ní a dhéanaimid, trí shaothar nua spreagúil a choimisiúnú agus a léiriú agus trí dhioscúrsa agus díospóireacht a chruthú i dtaobh cheisteanna polaitiúla, cultúrtha agus sóisialta na linne. Is é atá mar aidhm again ealaín amharclannaíochta den scoth a láithriú i gcomhthéacs náisiúnta ionas go mbeidh dáimh ag lucht ealaíne agus lucht féachana araon leis na scéalta a bhíonn á n-aithris ar an stáitse.

      In imeacht na mblianta, rinne Amharclann na Mainistreach saothar mórdhrámadóirí ar nós J.M. Synge agus Sean O’Casey a chothú agus a chéadléiriú, mar a rinne sí freisin i gcás clasaicí comhaimseartha ó dhrámadóirí amhail Sebastian Barry, Marina Carr, Bernard Farrell, Brian Friel, Thomas Kilroy, Tom MacIntyre, Frank McGuinness, Tom Murphy, Mark O’Rowe, Billy Roche agus Sam Shepard. Leanamid de thacnaíocht a thabhairt do scribhneoireacht nua in Amharclann na Mainistreach tríd ár bproíseas coimisiúnaithe agus ár gclár nua do dhrámadóirí.

      Ní féidir aon ní den chineál sin a thabhairt i gcrích gan ár lucht féachana agus na deontóirí a thugann cabhair airgid dúinn. Sholáthair Annie Horniman tacaíocht airgid ríthábhachtach don Mhainistir siar i mblianta tosaigh na hamharclainne. Agus lean iliomad daoine eile an dea-shampla ceannródaíochta sin uaithi ó shin trí infheistíocht a dhéanamh inár gcuid oibre agus tacaíocht a thabhairt dúinn.

      Go raibh maith agaibh.

      INTRODUCTION

      Neil Bartlett

       ‘Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril’

      Dorian Himself

      When you tell people that you are going to put Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray on the stage, they all promptly ask the same question; ‘So what does he look like?’

      By way of an answer, I would merely point out to anyone considering casting the role that Dorian’s much-vaunted looks are, in the book, never described beyond a few generalities. They exist almost entirely in the variously smitten eyes of his beholders. What matters is what he does with those looks. Convention dictates that what is required for the part is a sort of glacial facial perfection and immobility – the approach made iconic by Hurd Hatfield in the 1945 MGM movie – but in fact what you need is a credibly twenty-year-old actor who can convincingly transform himself from a gauche innocent into a drug-addicted middle-aged psychopath. The point about Dorian is not that he doesn’t change, but rather that he does change – and horribly. Paradoxically, the gothic element of the plot that ought to be the hardest to bring off – the uncanny miracle that as the years advance Dorian acquires not one wrinkle – is, in a theatre performance, simply a given. Of course Dorian doesn’t look any older on the day Lord Henry Wotton dies than on the day that he met him, it’s only been less than two hours plus an interval since they first set eyes on each other.

      Ideally, Dorian’s looks, like his money and class, must be got out of the way in the very first scene. They must be suggestive, not prescriptive. Only then can we concentrate on the how, not the why, of his Faustian career. Above all, we must never see Dorian making too much of an effort to seduce either the audience or the other characters. Like those of his female counterpart, Wedekind’s inexplicably attractive Lulu, his admirers must come to him already clutching their own deaths.

       ‘All art is at once surface and symbol’

      The Picture

      The second question that people ask – usually in gleeful anticipation of throwing you into a panicked tangle of bluff and promise – is; ‘So, how are you going to do the picture?’

      Well, every production must find its own solution, and much as I would hope that any future production of this script will pay little regard to my stage directions and concentrate on finding its own response to the imagery of the original story, this adaptation does come with a built-in proposition as to how the picture of the title is to be realised. (Please note; if you are an audience member reading this introduction before you see the show tonight, then it might be wise to stop reading now). One of the strongest tricks of Wilde’s story is its suggestiveness – indeed,