The very picture of debauchery

A new stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s only novel does not shy away from Dorian Gray’s bisexuality, says Pádraic Killeen

IN 1890 Oscar Wilde published his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, a Gothic tale that has become an iconic modern myth. It’s the story of a beautiful young man of the English upper class who makes a Faustian wish never to grow old. Instead, he wishes that his newly painted portrait should bear the scars of time in his place.

Incredibly, it comes to pass. Dorian Gray stays forever young and, despite a life of immense hedonism and vice, he remains untainted. Meanwhile, hidden away in his attic, the portrait grows ever more hideous.