The Picture of Dorian Gray - Haymarket 2024

I saw this production during it's first run in Sydney with Eryn Jean Norville playing all the parts.
It moves along at a cracking pace, and it's visually very busy. Costuming and staging are quite lush. There's quite a lot of interplay of live action, video and recorded audio. And even mobile phones in one scene.
I've seen Sarah Snook performing in Saint Joan - which was about 80% a one woman performance- and I think she'll be great in this role.

Loads of seats seem to be held off sale (unless it has sold very quickly in very neat patterns), presume ticket agents will have lots of "exclusive" access emails in the next few days?

Very bad unless you are especially interested in studying the top of actors' heads from a great height. I once saw Donald Sinden's bald patch play Uncle Vanya from those seats. Surely there will be deals via TodayTix or similar ? 

I'm a fan of the play and Sarah is clearly a fine actress but a one woman version of the play does seem a stretch. There must be a clever script and production as one of the ealier posters who saw an earlier incarnation of it said above. At least we know it has been staged successfully before and aren't risking seeing something which mighr fall flat on its face.

I hope that it is a successful and respect to Sarah for taking on something so different and challenging but not the sort of production I'd personally want to see.

On the site it still seems to be booking only until 13th April? I can't see mention of an extension to 11th May?

Thanks, makes sense.

In the email to people who have had their performance cancelled (e.g. the first two weeks) they offered first access to the extra added performances up to 11 May, presumably they are going to open it up to everyone else soon.

I believe the delay is because of the Emmys and the other awards ceremonies? It’s rescheduled for January 15, supposedly the Emmys would have happened this month already. Not sure when the Golden Globes and Critics Choice will be scheduled, and who knows if the annual SAG Awards would even push through. It all depends how long will the strikes go on. The optimists would hope the deal will be settled by Christmas, but who knows. HBO is even cancelling more shows recently under the leadership of the current Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, David Zaslav.

Extension til 11th May now on sale.

Sarah Snook guestings promoting Dorian Gray:

BBC Radio 2 interview by Zoe Ball:

x.com/doriangrayplay/status/1720461748556218409?s=46&t=U_eg6H3hI7v9FHf5TFJ_jA


Graham Norton Show:




She’ll also be on Laura Kuennsberg’s show this Sunday:


x.com/bbclaurak/status/1720524816522846264?s=46&t=U_eg6H3hI7v9FHf5TFJ_jA

Anyone been in to see this?

Woo, first time being the first one to see something and post my thoughts here.

To preface, I’ve never read the text nor seen any other production. Did a quick google search of the basic plot in advance.

I enjoyed this! At its good moments, it’s great. Sarah is very capable of playing all the parts. Her Dorian is really interesting, especially seeing the character progression from beginning to end.

The general production is really interesting. I was going to draw comparisons to Sunset Boulevard, but it appears this production came first. Lots of very smart camera work and screens. It felt cinematic at times, and I really enjoyed the floral imagery, similar to that in the promo photos.

Worth mentioning that there’s a heavy lean on comedy. I wasn’t expecting this, is it standard for this play? Plenty of funny moments which I enjoyed at first, but thought they were a bit misplaced as the play got into its more serious parts.

Another slight issue I had is (spoiler)
The reliance on weird ass Snapchat/instagram filters? Sounds bizzare, I know. Obviously there’s a lot of characters to play, and at first the show does this really well with mixing pre recorded video with what’s happening live. But at some point, Sarah gets her hands on a phone and we see her swiping through as if choosing dodgy instagram filters, which turn her into different characters on the screen. It felt cheap and silly.

2 hours straight though no interval, so I thought I might get bored but the play moved really fast and kept me interested. Somewhere in the middle I zoned out as I hadn’t a clue what was going on, somewhere around the time Dorian is committing sins I think.

I thought it was in great shape for a second preview, granted I’ve never seen a preview before. A couple of flubbed lines which she quickly corrected herself on, and some of the costume changes felt a bit clunky as they happen onstage and she speaks through them, so sometimes when there was a ‘significant’ article of clothing being changed, the stage would go silent mid sentence.

Overall enjoyed, and keen to hear what others think!

There's no way you'll hear what I think.   T  H  E      P     R    I    C    E     S    !!!!!!!!

Who could afford this?  £100 back row of the stalls.  Back row of Royal Circle £125   Okay, go for a cheap one..... £40 and £60 in the gallery with warnings of severely restricted views on some.  How about £75 or £100 for a "restricted view, and looking through clear perspex safety screen".   Any decent seat where you can actually see it with the naked eye is £125 or £140, before you get to big swathes named premium at £149, £199, £249.  For a one woman show.

I haven't set foot in the Haymarket since (decades ago) seeing but not hearing Sir Michael Horden in 'Heartbreak House'.  Couldn't hear a word of him from the cheap seats.  So going cheap isn't an option here. Perhaps video blows her up, and maybe there's sound enhancement.  But despite Wikipedia the star meriting these fantastic prices is a nobody to me.  Who the hell does this actress think she is? I'd want the reincarnation of Oscar Wilde himself for these prices.

The Haymarket has always smacked of fusty dead theatre to me, and however high tech this is they retain the dead part by greedy prices.