The picture of Dorian Gray

In Victorian London, a beautiful young aristocrat, Dorian Gray, is given a portrait of himself by celebrated artist, Basil Hallward. When Dorian Gray meets Sir Harry Wotton and, under his influence, is introduced to London's decadent social circles and a world of infinite pleasures, he starts sinking into a cruel, hedonistic existence.
This cruelty will lead Sibyl Vane, the young and innocent actress he is madly in love with, to commit suicide. After that, Dorian notices that his picture has changed and portraits a meaner version of himself.
As his physical appearance remains youthful, Dorian banks on the fact that it is his portrait that ages and takes on all the hideous features reflecting his sinful ways. Ultimately, Dorian realizes that he has lost possession of his immortal soul and must redeem himself.

Why now this adaptation in English ? Is this a personal whim ? Fabrice Scott, whose friendship goes back almost a quarter of a century, and who is at present playing the part of Basil in the French version, is, like Oscar Wilde, of Irish origin. Together we produced Dorian Gray twenty years ago with Anglo-phone actors. Suddenly realizing that their french actors are also perfectly bilingual, they saw how they could make an old dream come true by having the same actors act the play in both French and English.

Alors, pourquoi cette version en anglais ? Pourquoi cette lubie personnelle ? Fabrice Scott, un ami de plus de vingt ans, qui joue en ce moment Basil dans la version française, est d'origine irlandaise comme Oscar Wilde. Ensemble, ils ont monté Dorian Gray il y a vingt ans avec des acteurs anglais. Réalisant tout d'un coup que Arnaud Denis, Maxime de Toledo et Solenn Mariani sont également parfaitement bilingues, ils y voient là un moyen d'accomplir un vieux rêve : faire jouer par les mêmes acteurs la pièce en français et en anglais.
Mais avant tout et surtout c'est le bonheur de vous faire entendre ce texte sublime de Wilde dans sa langue maternelle.