"Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks me: Dorian is what I would like to be..." said Oscar Wilde when asked about the inspiration for the main characters of his infamous novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray." This quote eludes to the main problem with the theatrical adaptation by Daniel Mitura, currently playing at The Kirk Theatre.
Wilde's original novel focused around the themes of youth, beauty and hedonism. The book begins with the title character posing for a portrait being painted by Basil Hallward. Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil's, observes the session and is immediately enchanted by Dorian's striking appearance. While Basil works on the painting, Lord Henry steals Dorian away and fills his head with a series of hedonistic theories. By the time their conversation is over, Dorian has traded his innocence for cynicism and his soul for eternal youth and beauty. He prays that the portrait Basil has painted of him might age as opposed to his own mortal body. His hope is that, through this bargain, he will never be deprived of all the sensual and seductive temptations that life affords the young and attractive. From this point on, the novel ushers us through a number of pleasurable acts, however immoral, committed by Dorian.
In the novel you can understand why Oscar Wilde would want to be Dorian. He is endlessly adored by people because of his outward appearance. He takes what he likes and discards that which he finds tiresome or tedious. He lives a life of opulence and infinite pleasure and shows very little remorse for the consequences of his actions. This is not the case in Mr. Mitura's adaptation. There is nothing remotely hedonistic happening on the stage of the Kirk Theatre - no sexuality, sensuality, lust, danger, excitement, etc. It all seems rather safe and tame. Passion never seems to be percolating in the veins of any of these characters.
While, to his credit, Mr. Mitura is painstakingly true to the source material, in the end, it is perhaps
his undoing. In a novel the words are all we have, but in the theatre action and visuals are equally, if not more, important to the storytelling process. We want to see
Dorian's sins - not just be told about them. We want to live vicariously through Dorian's deliciously immoral journey. We want to reap all the benefits of his pact with the devil before we are forced to learn our lesson in the end. If we don't understand what Dorian gains from this deal of youth and beauty - if those two things don't gain him access to a world of infinite pleasures - then we start to view him as a fool long before we ought to.
That said, the fault is not purely with Mr. Mitura. There is one large casting error that only accentuates the deficiencies of the script - this is Wil Petre as Dorian Gray. Wil Petre is perhaps the tallest actor onstage. He is a strapping, masculine, handsome man who looks to be in his late twenties or early thirties. Unfortunately, Dorian is not any of these things. Through no fault of his own, Wil Petre is simply not Dorian Gray. In a show about youth and beauty, it is essential that Dorian seems dangerously young and angelic. In the novel he is described as a lad that is barely over twenty years old. Eighteen years pass over the course of the story and it should be unfathomable that Dorian still looks like a boy when he should be approaching forty. Mr. Petre appears the exact same age as the rest of the company and no amount of acting can Make Up For the fact that he is too much of a man for the role.
The rest of the cast is strong, with particularly good performances by Vayu O'Donnell as Lord Henry, Leif Huckman as Basil Hallward and Christina Broccolini as Sybil Vane. O'Donnell embodies Wilde's wit, cynicism and charm - while Huckman is extremely endearing as the tortured artist. Broccolini, like many of the other characters, comes and goes too quickly in the story but she makes the most of her limited time onstage, and finds particular success with her comedic take on Sybil's portrayal of Shakespeare's Juliet in the play within the play. Jade Rothman and Kaolin Bass, both good, round out the cast as the painfully underwritten James Vane and Alan Campbell respectively.
Aside from the obvious error in the casting of the title role, the direction by Henning Hegland is fairly strong. Though the pacing tends to drag at times, Mr. Hegland does his best to inject a few moments of true theatricality. One example of this is how he illustrates the passing of eighteen years by aging his actors onstage. Without giving anything away - it is one of the most clever, engaging and dramatically effective points of the evening.
In a show about youth, beauty and hedonism, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" at the Kirk Theatre finds itself lacking in all three departments. To quote the show: "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it," but in order to yield we must be tempted to start and that is where this Dorian falls short.
