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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Kelly Burke

Sarah Snook to play Dorian Gray as hit Australian production heads to London’s West End

Actor Sarah Snook at the AFI Awards luncheon in Beverly Hills
Sarah Snook will appear in the demanding role of Dorian Gray in Sydney Theatre Company’s one-woman adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket. Photograph: Matt Winkelmeyer/WireImage

Succession star Sarah Snook will headline the Sydney Theatre Company’s acclaimed one-woman adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray when it makes its West End debut early next year.

The 35-year-old Australian actor, who has collected Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards for her portrayal of Shiv Roy in the hit HBO series, will appear in the demanding role at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket in January.

The Picture of Dorian Gray has been a huge hit in Australia since it premiered in 2020, starring actor Eryn Jean Norvill. The production enjoyed three sell-out seasons in Sydney and toured to Melbourne, Adelaide and Auckland. The production enables a single actor to play 26 different characters through the use of intricately choreographed video cameras.

The production is directed by the STC’s artistic director Kip Williams, who is well known for his blending of camera and film work in live theatre.

Eryn Jean Norvill playing multiple characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray in 2020.
Eryn Jean Norvill playing multiple characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray in 2020. Photograph: Daniel Boud

The show’s West End transfer marks the first joint venture between the STC and the Michael Cassel Group, which has brought hit musicals such as Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and The Phantom of the Opera to Australia.

In a statement, Cassel said he decided Williams’ play, adapted from Wilde’s only novel, deserved a global audience the first time he saw it.

“Kip Williams’ genius production is transformative, innovative, transfixing and entertaining and I am beyond excited that the inimitable Sarah Snook will star in this incredible production,” he said.

Snook is no stranger to the London stage: in 2016 she appeared opposite Ralph Fiennes in Matthew Warchus’ The Master Builder.

Norvill, who has played all 26 roles in Dorian Gray for three years, is touring Europe in a National Theatre production of Alexander Zeldin’s The Confessions.

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