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Pictures of Dorian Gray – A

Jermyn Street Theatre

Reviewed – 10th June 2019

★★★

“The performances are all beautifully executed”

As director Tom Littler notes in the programme, Dorian Gray has become a kind of folklore: even if you haven’t read the novel you know the story, or at least some abridged version of it; a withering portrait hung in an attic. But it’s Wilde’s combination of wit and wisdom that has kept the story alive, seeing both the humour and tragedy of the premise. Unfortunately, Littler and writer Lucy Shaw have leaned instead on unsmiling introspection, leaving the light-heartedness out almost completely.

The content itself is still round about where Wilde left it – a beautiful young man wishes that his portrait would age rather than himself so that he might retain his youthful allure, and his wish comes true. The moral implications unfold – if you were to wear no signs of your transgressions, carry no cross for your regrets, and therefore lose sight of your humanity, would it all still be worth it, to be beautiful and to enjoy all things pleasurable?

The dialogue is also lifted directly from the page, so technically the humour is still present, but the sound design (Matt Eaton) has strange atmospheric soundscapes and heavy ominous echoes trounce any comic delivery – it’s hard to laugh when the audience feels they’re supposed to be taking it all very seriously.

It seems this is more of a dramatic exercise than an audience-ready production. The directive decisions are more out of curiousity – what if we did this – than to enrich the story. The big gimmick is that each night the actors will switch roles and thus the characters will switch genders- there are two men and two women. Quoting Littler directly from the programme notes, “We didn’t have a point to make – it was just a series of questions.” It’s the sort of thing you might try in rehearsal as an experiment but it seems bizarre to play it out on stage when there’s no reason.

As is fitting for a plot filled with hedonism, the production does look beautiful (William Reynolds). Two slanting mirrors flank the stage and tens of bauble filament bulbs hang low. The costume follows suits (Emily Stuart): there’s lots of black velvet and silk encrusted with gold and jewels, and whilst everyone has their own outfit, they all follow a similar theme, lending a very pleasing aesthetic cohesion.

The performances are all beautifully executed. Richard Keightley (playing Henry Wotton in the production I saw), is particularly adept, a perfect combination of predatory and charming. The trouble is that whilst everyone performed well and delivered their lines with conviction, it was mostly drowned out by the over-stylisation of the production – the strange ‘narrators’ interrupting the scenes to quote abstractly from Wilde’s well-known preface, for example, or the need to have the whole cast on stage throughout, beautifully choreographed (Julia Cave) to move with inexplicable purpose. What is the message we’re supposed to be receiving here? Unfortunately, I don’t think the cast knows any more than we do.

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by S R Taylor

Pictures of Dorian Gray – A

Jermyn Street Theatre until 6th July

The cast switch roles at different performances, giving you a choice of four versions: A – Male Dorian with male Wotton, B – Male Dorian with female Wotton, C – Female Dorian with male Wotton and D – Female Dorian with female Wotton. See Jermyn Street Theatre website for dates each version is performed.

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

Tomorrow at Noon | ★★★★ | May 2018

The Play About my Dad | ★★★★ | June 2018

Hymn to Love | ★★★ | July 2018

Burke & Hare | ★★★★ | November 2018

Original Death Rabbit | ★★★★★ | January 2019

Agnes Colander: An Attempt At Life | ★★★★ | February 2019

Mary’s Babies | ★★★ | March 2019

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

★★★

“Strindberg still has an incredible amount to say to modern audiences”

Having loved Creditors the previous night, I was very excited to experience Miss Julie – the most famous of August Strindberg’s plays – which is running on alternating nights at the Jermyn Street Theatre. Despite the trademark qualities of the writer being fully present, here they didn’t feel as tightly honed as in Creditors, resulting in a production that felt lost at times.

Originally written in 1888 and adapted by Howard Brenton based on a translation from Agnes Broomé, Miss Julie focuses on the relationship between the upper class titular character (Charlotte Hamblin) and her servant Jean (James Sheldon), as the pair use their status and seductiveness against each other in an ever shifting scuffle for power over one another. The play constructs an engaging commentary on the trappings of the class system at either end of the spectrum, and the ways in which love and sex can exist outside of that system, and it’s a credit to both Brenton and Strindberg that a lot of the arguments presented don’t feel stale, instead capturing a sense of modernity and relevance to the still-prevalent class oppression in our society.

However, other aspects of Miss Julie have not aged so well. The play was first conceived at a time when the likes of Ibsen and Chekhov had made naturalist theatre a new phenomenon, and so the play at times feels like it’s trying a little too hard to be the most naturalistic, at the expense of delivering a focused plot. Extended sequences in which Jean’s fiancée Kristin (Dorothea Myer-Bennett) cooks or waits for the other characters to return are dreary, and a huge detriment to the pace of the narrative. Additionally, after a blistering middle that is dripping with tension and psychological game-playing, the final section feels unsure of how to resolve its plot, and features the characters repeatedly threatening to do something then changing their mind. Consequently, when the actual resolution comes around, it fails to land with any weight as the audience had been conditioned not to trust the solutions the script presented.

These shortcomings are greatly atoned for with the performances, with mature and sensitive direction from Tom Littler. The fierce and flirtatious chemistry between Sheldon and Hamblin is tectonic as she toys with him, and the slow unveiling of his deeply embittered psyche is gripping. Hamblin’s performance later becomes a little over-wrought, as some speeches feel like they’re all being played at maximum distress at all times and as a result lack variety, but it provides an interesting contrast with Myer-Bennett’s grounded portrayal, and by and large the cast show a total mastery over the text, bringing humanity and idiosyncrasy to the forefront at every opportunity.

Miss Julie is in some ways very messy, and yet it was also hugely engrossing, which has made abundantly clear that even if it’s not being said in the most effective way, Strindberg still has an incredible amount to say to modern audiences.

Reviewed by Tom Francis

Photography by Robert Workman

Jermyn Street Theatre

Reviewed – 10th June 2019

★★★

“The performances are all beautifully executed”

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by S R Taylor

Pictures of Dorian Gray – A

Jermyn Street Theatre until 6th July

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

Jermyn Street Theatre

Reviewed – 30th April 2019

★★★

“Strindberg still has an incredible amount to say to modern audiences”

Miss Julie is in some ways very messy, and yet it was also hugely engrossing, which has made abundantly clear that even if it’s not being said in the most effective way, Strindberg still has an incredible amount to say to modern audiences.

Reviewed by Tom Francis

Photography by Robert Workman

Miss Julie

Jermyn Street Theatre until 1st June

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: