Oscar Wilde's Grandson Adapts THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY for Trafalgar Studios

2016 marks the 125th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's only novel and now THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY has been freshly adapted by Merlin Holland, Wilde's only grandson, and John O'Connor of European Arts Company. The production will play Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY from Monday 18th January to Saturday 13th February 2016. Press Night is slated for Wednesday 20th January, 7pm.

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY is a story that most people feel they know without ever having read. On its first publication, a storm of protest was unleashed from British critics who described it as 'a poisonous book' written 'for outlawed noblemen and perverted telegraph boys'. Here, Holland and O'Connor have reverted to Wilde's original manuscript, reinstating some of the key lines that were censored. These sections make more explicit the homoerotic themes of the story and, 'clarify Basil Hallward's character, lost in hopeless and helpless adoration of Dorian Gray, and make Dorian's knowing manipulation of Basil all the more calculated and shocking' (British Theatre).

Through access to the original manuscript, Holland and O'Connor have produced the version of Dorian Gray that Wilde always intended us to see.

Holland comments, In adapting my grandfather's only novel for the stage, John O'Connor and I have reintroduced a few of those suppressions from the magazine as well as others from the original manuscript, in order to reflect Oscar's original intentions. These passages, significant as they are, will be largely unknown to the general public, who read the novel today as published in its book-length version. Unfortunately the fall-out from Dorian Gray was to haunt its author. Despite assuring Oscar Wilde's posthumous reputation throughout the world, it is a sobering thought that THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY should have contributed, even marginally, to putting my grandfather behind bars 120 years ago.

Set in the decadent world of Victorian London, a beautiful young man - Dorian Gray - becomes infatuated by the exquisite portrait that Basil Hallward has painted of him. He makes a Faustian pact that he will remain forever young while the picture grows old. Dorian Gray is a cultural myth that has become more potent with time and the pressure to stay forever young and beautiful is even more resonant in the 21st century.

The cast comprises Guy Warren-Thomas (Little Pieces of Gold, Park Theatre; The Cave, Blue Elephant Theatre; Downton Abbey, ITV), Rupert Mason (The Trials of Oscar Wilde, Trafalgar Studios; The Madness of George Dubya, West End; The Tempest, RSC), and Helen Keeley (The Importance of Being Earnest, London Classic Theatre; To The End, Southwark Playhouse; Summer Days Dream, Finborough Theatre). THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY at Trafalgar Studios is directed by Peter Craze (Doctor Who; Blake's Seven).

This gripping new production brings fresh insight to a work that many think they know but few understand.

European Arts Company is a national and international touring theatre company based at the Hazlitt Theatre in Kent. For the past 13 years, they have been touring classic plays all over the UK, Ireland, Germany, Greece and Italy. They are well-known for the critically-acclaimed UK Tour and West End run of The Trials of Oscar Wilde.

IF YOU GO:

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

Monday 18th January - Saturday 13th February 2016
Monday - Saturday 7.45pm, Thursday and Saturday matinees 3pm

2 hours 15 minutes (including interval)

Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY

Tickets are available for £15, £20, £25 and tickets for school groups of 10+ available for £19.50, all from the Trafalgar Studios Box Office and www.atgtickets.com/venues/trafalgar-studios, 0844 871 7632.

Trafalgar Studios is located on Whitehall. The nearest underground stations are Charing Cross (on the Bakerloo and Northern lines), Embankment (on the Bakerloo, Northern, Circle and District lines), Westminster (on the Jubilee, Circle and District lines) and Leicester Square (on the Northern and Piccadilly lines). The nearest rail station is Charing Cross.

Merlin is a biographer and editor and is the only grandchild of Oscar Wilde. For the last 30 years, he has studied and researched Wilde′s life. He is the co-editor, with Rupert Hart-Davis, of The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde, and the editor of Irish Peacock and Scarlett Marquess, the first uncensored version of his grandfather's 1895 libel trial. He has also written The Wilde Album, a small volume that included hitherto unpublished photographs of Wilde. In 2006, his book Oscar Wilde: A Life in Letters was published, and Coffee with Oscar Wilde, an imagined conversation with Oscar, was released in the autumn of 2007. Holland also wrote A Portrait of Oscar Wilde (2008), which reveals Wilde through manuscripts and letters from the Lucia Moreira Salles collection, located at the The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.

John founded European Arts Company in 2002 and the first production was a British Council sponsored tour of Greece with Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter & The Lover. Since then, the company has gone from strength to strength touring all over the UK, Ireland, Greece, Germany and Italy with 24 shows that have delighted audiences everywhere. Other Wilde productions include The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Windermere's Fan which toured all over Italy. In 2013, EAC performed Four Farces on tour and at Wilton's Music Hall in London (4 Stars and Critic's Choice in The Times). In 2014, John co-wrote and produced The Trials of Oscar Wilde which travelled to 60 venues in the UK before a successful run at Trafalgar Studios in the West End.