The Picture of Dorian Gray

All admire the young Dorian Gray. He is strikingly beautiful – radiant, almost untouchable. But when Dorian sees his own portrait, he is seized by a terrifying realisation: even he will one day grow old, lined and diminished. In desperation, he makes a pact with the Devil. The portrait on the wall will bear the marks of time, while his own body remains eternally young.

Freed from consequence, Dorian plunges into a life devoted to vanity, pleasure and aesthetic excess. Yet every bargain with the Devil carries its price. Before long, Dorian discovers that scandal, cruelty and indifference leave their scars elsewhere – not upon the skin, but upon the soul.

Upon its publication, The Picture of Dorian Gray was condemned as immoral and accused of promoting unnatural and socially subversive vice. The novel was even cited as evidence in the trials against Oscar Wilde, who was prosecuted and imprisoned for “gross indecency” and homosexuality.

Resident director Anna Balslev, in collaboration with the performing arts collective Regimentet, reimagines Wilde’s provocative novel in a seductive stage production featuring newly composed music and songs performed live on stage by a band.

Recommended from 13 years old