The Picture of Dorian Gray is the quintessential work for any literature student. You will find battered copies in the back pockets and bag bottoms of any self-respecting reader, lovingly thumbed-through and annotated and dog-eared until the words on the page are faded and it’s only with the intense knowledge of the work that one can complete the sentence. With all the love surrounding it, it can be a daunting task to take it on and turn it into a play. Yet David Stallings, a playwright and the artistic director for Maieutic Theater Works (not to mention the guy who scored the coveted role of Lord Henry), seems to be confident that they’ve nailed it.

David Stallings himself is a man fully immersed in the New York theater culture. He’s been acting all his life “…since I was five,” he said over the phone. “I was drawn to the New York indie theater scene.” He liked the new productions and the new approaches to theater. And it was through the acting that he realized that he was also interested in working behind the scenes. Stallings has four plays under his belt, including the prize winning Anais Nin Goes to Hell, and, when speaking with him over the phone, sounded so enthusiastic about the theater scene in New York.

We talked about adapting The Picture of Dorian Gray and what drew him to this particular adaptation. “I really like Glory Kadigan…and was really excited about working with her.” He said that when she came to the Maieutic Theater Works about producing her adaptation of the Wilde classic, they jumped on it.

The Picture of Dorian Gray could be a daunting work to adapt to the stage. It’s a visceral work and full of drama and witty language. Yet, Kadigan has apparently nailed it.

“It’s all Wilde’s dialogue,” Stallings affirmed, “and the way she focuses the dialogue, she really delves into the repression.” He reminded me that the work was original censored (the uncensored version wasn’t released until 2011) and that the dialogue itself all hides the homosexual nature of the book.

“Anyone who reads it now realizes that, even at the beginning, that oh, no, this kid is in trouble.” He laughs when he says it but Stallings is right. The book itself is truly a piece that is about discovering one’s homosexual nature in a time when homosexuality was a crime punishable by the work camps (Wilde was tried and found guilty for homosexuality; The Picture of Dorian Gray was used against him in court). “The dialogue was a code so we get to speak in code. Without using the dialogue you lose a lot of the book, especially the wit.”

Wilde’s infamous dialogue is not the only thing being preserved within this adaptation. According to Stallings, Kadigan also has an interesting approach to bringing in all the descriptive text that Wilde so painstakingly wrought. I asked Stallings how, as the artistic director, they were able to recreate the beauty that Wilde created. He said that Kadigan’s adaptation was very simple. There will be three, huge picture frames that the central characters- Lord Henry, Basil, and Dorian- will stand around. The ensemble (this will include the tragic Sybil Vane)- will stand to the side and narrate, speaking directly from the book.

“The ensemble is an orchestra singing Wilde’s words.”

Stallings also has the distinct honor of playing one of my favorite literary characters of all time, Lord Henry, a man I like to believe I have modeled some of my thinking after (I really don’t know if I should be admitting to that, actually). Stallings said that he was thrilled to be casted as Lord Henry and that the three primary actors- Stallings, Eric Percival as Basil and Francesco Andolfi as Dorian- all talked about the characters, their friendship and what happens when Henry, in Stallings words, “seduces Dorian from Basil.”

In order to get into Lord Henry’s headspace, Stallings studied a lot of the classic Shakespeare actors such as Leslie Howard and John Gielgud as well as Maggie Smith.

He spent time “immersing in big, larger than life actors”, trying to really get a feel for that personality. He said that he  “does not try to copy them. I act like a sponge so when I’m on stage I just become him.” He’ll suddenly find himself speaking with a lower tone and acting like the seductive, larger-than-life Lord Henry that Wilde created.

Both of us have a great admiration for the work and talked about why it was such a lasting piece. Stallings said that it helps that it’s a work that has endless interpretations.

“Everything was so heavily veiled, allowing it to be interpreted in many ways. There’s the easy way which most film adaptation have relied on, seeing it as a piece about morality, but then there’s the harder way, the way Glory interpreted it, a piece about sexuality.”

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a piece that is important even more so today than it was in 1890, when it was first published. There have been many interpretations of it, but none quite like Glory Kadigan’s, if Stallings’ interview is anything to go by. Be sure to check it out and see for yourself if Kadigan has captured the essence of, arguably, Wilde’s best work. –TB