SALOMÉ
Theatre Royal Haymarket
★★★★
“the show is beautifully stylised and atmospheric”
The story of “Salomé” is biblical, and Oscar Wilde wrote his play over a hundred and thirty years ago, yet it continues to connect with a modern audience. It is mainly down to the continuing influence of Wilde on modern culture, but also because the character of Salomé has always captured people’s imaginations. She has become such an icon. One that is open to interpretation. Gesher Theatre’s take on the story has made some very bold choices. Wilde’s play was considered scandalous – and was indeed banned – upon its publication and, although times have changed since then, Maxim Didenko’s haunting production still maintains the ability to provoke and to unsettle.
We are immediately drawn into the sumptuously decadent world created by designer Galya Solodovnikova. Part Parisian opulence, part Gatsby mansion, we are at the birthday party of Herod, the tetrarch of Judea (Doron Tavori). Soft, jazz piano chords filter through the air while soldiers, dressed in black and carrying machine guns menacingly watch on. Despite appearances, they have the voices of angels – especially the young, tragic Syrian (played by Itamar Peres) who marvels at Salomé’s beauty. The conversation sets up the action, like a prologue of sorts, anticipating the entrance of its heroine. Meanwhile the prophet Jokanaan (aka John the Baptist, played fearlessly by Shir Sayag) is revealed, incarcerated within a frame halfway up the back wall of the stage, lit in flame red hues, expressing his fear-inducing prophecies through melodic falsetto chanting.
When Neta Roth, as Salomé, bursts onto the scene she makes her presence felt instantly. Petulant, eccentric and goading, she is a beguiling mix of spoilt brat and abused child. She certainly knows how to get what she wants, but she often acts too impulsively with little empathy. She is neither outright villain, nor a thoughtful role model for feminism. Her mother Herodias (Lena Fraifeld) is the epitome of frustration and unease at the way her husband, Herod, lusts after his stepdaughter. It is unreciprocated. Salomé instead makes romantic advances towards Jokanaan which, in turn, are spurned. The results are deadly, of course, and events lead up to the famous dance of the seven veils, complete with Salomé’s gruesome demands of Jokanaan’s head on a silver plate as a reward for performing the dance.
The actual story is quite uncomplicated in its familiarity, but what this company does so well is tease out the undercurrents. The characters are stripped bare so that their motivations are crystal clear. It is all about power, hunger, control and manipulation. The abused become the abusers and the objects of desire become the voyeurs. Culprits and victims are indiscernible. Light-hearted conversations downstage are superimposed against slow motion tableaus depicting executions taking place upstage. The cruel contradictions of life in the corridors of power are carefully and imaginatively staged, yet Didenko refuses to make it political; his direction is more sophisticated than that. Instead, the show is beautifully stylised and atmospheric, enhanced by Gleb Filchtinsky’s exquisite lighting and Louis Lebée’s compositions. Nir Knaan is to be found throughout at the grand piano, underscoring the narrative with impeccable sensitivity and emotional accuracy.
Very occasionally the diction gets a bit lost in the venue, although the cast (Roth is the finest example) handle the poetic lyricism of Wilde’s words with ease. While some of the physicality borders on excess, the dance of the seven veils is a powerful moment (if a little odd), eschewing the expected eroticism in favour of finding a more menacing, animalistic flavour. We realise how unhinged Salomé has become and Roth’s portrayal takes on Shakespearian proportions. Indeed, this is very much a tragedy – right up to its shocking finale. A haunting and compelling show, it would be a bit of a tragedy to miss it.
SALOMÉ
Theatre Royal Haymarket
Reviewed on 30th September 2025
by Jonathan Evans
Photography by Isaiah Fainberg
Previously reviewed at this venue:
THE SCORE | ★★★½ | February 2025
WAITING FOR GODOT | ★★★★ | September 2024
FARM HALL | ★★★★ | August 2024
HEATHERS | ★★★ | July 2021
