The Picture of Dorian Gray - Haymarket 2024

They were reduced to £50 online. I'd definitely avoid the back of stalls for this one and opt for side dress at the same price instead. If the screens cut off you'll lose a lot.

Another thumbs up for the midweek matinee and the wonders of dynamic pricing. Last week I bought a ticket near the end of stalls row L for £40 on the morning of the show. At some evening shows the adjacent seat is on sale for a crazy £249.

Saw this last night and sat in awe through most of it. Snook is incredible, with layers of storytelling, characterisation and emotion flittng through comedy to absolute heartbreak. Although it’s a one woman show she’s supported throughout by a fantastic hard-working crew and it’s clear from the curtain call how much of an ensemble piece this actually is even though there’s only one actor. The direction is masterful, and the whole concept has been meticulously thought through and choreographed seamlessly.

The gradual build in the use of screens, pre-records and costume/set/props from an initial bare stage to what feels like a fully rounded world is just brilliantly done. It pulls you in slowly and keeps surprising technically until the very end, whilst never overshadowing the story and the emotion with style (something I felt Sunset was guilty of at times).

It’s honestly one of the best things I’ve ever seen on stage and I’d see it again in a heartbeat if tickets weren’t so expensive!

I don’t want to repeat what others have said. Clearly Snook is doing something incredible here, you’ve got to give her credit for signing up for something so physically gruelling when she could easily just enter the Marvel movie phase of her career. Tonight she fought with a lot of snot on her face during a later scene, mixed in with the sweat and tears.

I think as well that the choreography, video design, set design and direction are very impressive. I reckon there was was a bit too much screen time ultimately, when you feel like you spent about 20% of the play looking at the real life actor it makes it a bit less clear why you’re seeing something expensively in a theatre as opposed to cheaply in a cinema. I’m kind of done with video screens on stage, this felt very much like the climax of it. We can go back to just looking at real humans on a stage for a couple of hours.

I don’t like the source material for this, I think it lacks depth and mainly serves as a vehicle (as most of Wilde’s stuff does) for Oscar to insert his witticisms and observations into the characters mouths, we’re supposed to admire the intelligence of the writer more than feel anything. The play kind of suffers from the same thing, as hard as everyone worked I’m not sure I ended up especially moved by it.

The allusions to instagram and the modern (or what we perceive to be modern) obsession with image, beauty and youth were well-handled, I think the production justified its existence in those moments. It’s incredibly fun and whilst I think the above posters Norbit allusion is hilarious I don’t quite agree, the gurning and melodrama sort of worked for me.

I had a great time, it’s definitely worth seeing, and thank you to those who pointed me in the direction of waiting until the day before or day of to book tickets, mine were half price.

Just won the TodayTix lottery for this for Monday 8th. Can't argue with L1 stalls for £20!

Thanks for that! I didn’t know but should be fine.

Saw this tonight, pretty much all of my thoughts have already been shared by others.

You can’t argue with the fact that this is a technical narrative marvel, it makes my head hurt thinking about how they pulled it all off. One screen/camera goes wrong and the whole thing goes to hell!

Sarah is fantastic, absolutely no notes, all of her individual characters are unique and distinguishable. What an exhausting thing to have to do 8 times a week.

I must say, I do echo some of the sentiments shared here about the amount of screen watching involved. I understand it, it just doesn’t feel particularly ‘theatrical’ to me.

Personal highlight of the evening was giving the woman next to me a near heart attack. Struck up a conversation before the show started and mentioned that I had paid £20 for my ticket via the lottery (stalls row L). She had paid £249!

So pleased for Sarah Snook this evening. What a thrill this show was, so full of creativity, and life and love for the text, whatever challenges it presents...!

She deserves every accolade - staggering performance.

Got to say, I saw it a few weeks ago and the 2 hours fly by. There were no signs saying no readmittance from what I could so though.

A couple of people nipped in and out at my performance. Thankfully towards the back and near the aisles so not too much disruption!

I loved this too - amazing performance and direction/concept. I'd like to see more of Kip Williams' work if this is what he's capable of. I did worry in the opening 10 minutes that they were just sending the book up (deliberately over-acting the male-ness and the selr-regard, for example) but as the use of technology gets more and more brilliant and entertaining and thought-provoking, any initial doubts were swept away. The great thing about screens and mikes of course is that it is perfectly ok being in the middle of the Upper Circle, as I was, and everything is clear as a bell. I was perfectly happy to have spent more than I would normally spend on a ticket.