REVIEW: Dorian Gray Naked
Image: Blake Appelqvist. Photo: Clare Hawley
Oscar Wilde would have loved this latest offering from Popinjay Productions playing at the Limelight Theatre in Oxford Street.
Blake Appelqvist plays Dorian Gray, the hero of Oscar Wilde’s story in which Dorian pledges himself to a Faustian deal to retain his beauty forever while his portrait stashed away in his attic grows old.
“If it were I who was to be always young and the picture that was to grow old! … Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!”
But just as Frankenstein’s creation raises questions about the soul and autonomy of the created, so does this musical in which Dorian debates with his maker.
Choreographer Nathan Mark Wright, assisted by Danielle Evrat, has performed a miracle in devising dance movements which confine Appelqvist to a very small stage, where Dorian’s alter ego, Dion Condack, the composer of the work, sits at the piano.
Under the direction of Melvyn Morrow, Appelqvist makes the best of the limited area as he sings, dances and changes into and out of a dazzling array of costumes dreamt up by Peter Henson, while sharing Wilde’s witticisms at a furious pace.
Claire Molony provides the interesting props while Mehran Mortezai’s lighting gives Appelqvist the chance to shine!
The timing is perfect with Mardi Gras around the corner, as the talented and beautiful Appelqvist prances around the stage playing Morrow’s sensuous, erotic and very naughty creation in a double hander for gay theatre.
Until Feb 16. Limelight On Oxford, 231 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst. $30-$40+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.limelightonoxford.com.au
Reviewed by Irina Dunn
