Dorian Gray
Mon, 17 Feb 2003, 12:56 amLil' Budgie7 posts in thread
Dorian Gray
Mon, 17 Feb 2003, 12:56 amAm really interested in hearing any theatre reviews about KADS 'Dorian Gray' as I'm planning to see the show next week, and nothing has, as yet, come up on the ITA website. Any feedback would be great.
Re: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Sat, 1 Mar 2003, 02:23 amWalter Plinge
WHAT: The Picture of Dorian Gray
WHEN: Friday, February 28 (2003)
WHERE: KADS, Kalamunda (WA)
According to the programme, this stage version of Oscar Wilde's tale was written by Roger Parsley and first produced in 1997. Most people are familiar with the story, I'm sure. In Victorian London, Dorian Gray is immortalised on canvas. As Dorian grows more wicked and corrupt he remains eternally youthful, yet his portrait - the mirror of his soul - becomes ever more aged and vile.
I know it's selfish and petty, but dammit, I was disappointed not to see the picture. I was expecting a nice portrait of nice Troy at the start, to be replaced throughout the production by ever more distorted perversions. Oh well, it was probably a good call. The portraits would have had to have been damn good or else risk audience ridicule. Plus there's also the fact that forcing the audience to imagine the defilement of the picture is far more effective than a presented example. Let's face it, is there anyone who wasn't disappointed when Luke pulled Darth Vader's helmet off?
That last comment just about summed up the style of much of the script. As one person described it, it's one long homo-erotic manifesto. There were some real laugh-out-loud Wilde-isms, but there were some extremely unsubtle references to "the love that dare not speak its name".
Nevertheless, the story is immensely popular and well-known, touching as it does on most people's holy grail: eternal youth. At the same time, it's chilling to watch the deterioration of an initially upstanding person, and the consequences of his nihilism.
Troy Hall was the perfect Dorian Gray. His corruption was nicely portrayed, though it took a little time to get going. I thought Act 1 was a little slow, but that's just my opinion. We had to wait until the end of the Act before the major plot point - Dorian realising the painting was reflecting the corruption of his soul. After that, Troy's - sorry, Dorian's - dementia was really quite frightening. His wicked glee at other people's horror was unsettling.
The other major characters were the artist, Basil Hallward (Peter James Niblett), and Lord Henry Wotton (Kurtis Crisafulli). Both of these characters portrayed aspects of Wilde himself. Lord Henry did little other than spout devastating one-liners and espouse the "if it feels good, do it" philosophy, whilst Basil, between brushstrokes, constantly revered the handsome young Babar - sorry, Dorian - claiming life would have no meaning without him. The character of Basil fared a little better, in that he was permitted to display a range of emotions. His disbelief upon seeing the corrupted painting was palpable. Kurtis had less to work with, but did manage to bring some sympathy and dimensionality to his character - particularly in Act 2.
Scott Northover and Brooke Silcox portrayed James and Sybil Vane. Sybil (an actress) fell in love with Dorian, but after a particularly poor performance (with some nice coarse acting from Brooke), Dorian unceremoniously dumped her. Her brother James vowed to avenge her. Both were a little bit quiet at first, but did pick up - particularly with James's convincing rage when he finally confronts Dorian.
Gareth Sambridge played a minor but wonderfully conceived victim of Dorian's blackmail. From the instant Gareth entered, we knew he didn't want to be there, and had nothing but contempt for Dorian. Jenny McCann had a marvelously flighty and oblivious role as Lady Marborough, then (in another role) participated in some hot chick-on-chick action with sultry stage goddess Julia Dalby, as Dorian prowled the Red Light district. My God, that woman can do Cockney whore in her sleep. :-)
The set was perfectly painted, thanks to Andrea Berry, and nicely constructed by Norm & George in the wee small hours. Leoni's wardrobe was stunning!
Overall, I thought it took a little time to get going, and then finished a bit abruptly, but there was a lot of fun and a few chills along the way. I say it every time then forget, but next time I go see Wilde on stage, I'm taking pen and paper to try and catch some of those one-liners. Thanks to director Tim Edwards and KADS.
JB
WHEN: Friday, February 28 (2003)
WHERE: KADS, Kalamunda (WA)
According to the programme, this stage version of Oscar Wilde's tale was written by Roger Parsley and first produced in 1997. Most people are familiar with the story, I'm sure. In Victorian London, Dorian Gray is immortalised on canvas. As Dorian grows more wicked and corrupt he remains eternally youthful, yet his portrait - the mirror of his soul - becomes ever more aged and vile.
I know it's selfish and petty, but dammit, I was disappointed not to see the picture. I was expecting a nice portrait of nice Troy at the start, to be replaced throughout the production by ever more distorted perversions. Oh well, it was probably a good call. The portraits would have had to have been damn good or else risk audience ridicule. Plus there's also the fact that forcing the audience to imagine the defilement of the picture is far more effective than a presented example. Let's face it, is there anyone who wasn't disappointed when Luke pulled Darth Vader's helmet off?
That last comment just about summed up the style of much of the script. As one person described it, it's one long homo-erotic manifesto. There were some real laugh-out-loud Wilde-isms, but there were some extremely unsubtle references to "the love that dare not speak its name".
Nevertheless, the story is immensely popular and well-known, touching as it does on most people's holy grail: eternal youth. At the same time, it's chilling to watch the deterioration of an initially upstanding person, and the consequences of his nihilism.
Troy Hall was the perfect Dorian Gray. His corruption was nicely portrayed, though it took a little time to get going. I thought Act 1 was a little slow, but that's just my opinion. We had to wait until the end of the Act before the major plot point - Dorian realising the painting was reflecting the corruption of his soul. After that, Troy's - sorry, Dorian's - dementia was really quite frightening. His wicked glee at other people's horror was unsettling.
The other major characters were the artist, Basil Hallward (Peter James Niblett), and Lord Henry Wotton (Kurtis Crisafulli). Both of these characters portrayed aspects of Wilde himself. Lord Henry did little other than spout devastating one-liners and espouse the "if it feels good, do it" philosophy, whilst Basil, between brushstrokes, constantly revered the handsome young Babar - sorry, Dorian - claiming life would have no meaning without him. The character of Basil fared a little better, in that he was permitted to display a range of emotions. His disbelief upon seeing the corrupted painting was palpable. Kurtis had less to work with, but did manage to bring some sympathy and dimensionality to his character - particularly in Act 2.
Scott Northover and Brooke Silcox portrayed James and Sybil Vane. Sybil (an actress) fell in love with Dorian, but after a particularly poor performance (with some nice coarse acting from Brooke), Dorian unceremoniously dumped her. Her brother James vowed to avenge her. Both were a little bit quiet at first, but did pick up - particularly with James's convincing rage when he finally confronts Dorian.
Gareth Sambridge played a minor but wonderfully conceived victim of Dorian's blackmail. From the instant Gareth entered, we knew he didn't want to be there, and had nothing but contempt for Dorian. Jenny McCann had a marvelously flighty and oblivious role as Lady Marborough, then (in another role) participated in some hot chick-on-chick action with sultry stage goddess Julia Dalby, as Dorian prowled the Red Light district. My God, that woman can do Cockney whore in her sleep. :-)
The set was perfectly painted, thanks to Andrea Berry, and nicely constructed by Norm & George in the wee small hours. Leoni's wardrobe was stunning!
Overall, I thought it took a little time to get going, and then finished a bit abruptly, but there was a lot of fun and a few chills along the way. I say it every time then forget, but next time I go see Wilde on stage, I'm taking pen and paper to try and catch some of those one-liners. Thanks to director Tim Edwards and KADS.
JB
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