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The Picture of Dorian Gray



Back to theatre again  with our students. We'd love to welcome this glowing Roman Autumn with a brand new performance by PALKETTOSTAGE "THE PICTURE of DORIAN GRAY"




Oscar Wilde was born on 16th October 1854, in Dublin, Ireland. He was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and at Magdalen College, Oxford, and eventually settled in London. 
A great conversationalist and a famous wit, Wilde began by publishing witty, comic plays among which we must remember Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895...you can read our PREVIOUS POST HERE!), and his most famous play, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
Wilde published his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, before he reached the height of his fame. It was criticized as scandalous and immoral, so Wilde revised it in 1891, adding a preface and six new chapters. The Preface (as Wilde calls it) introduces his  philosophy of art. Devoted to a school of thought  known as Aestheticism, Wilde believed that art possesses an intrinsic beautiful value that has no worth, therefore it doesn't need to serve any other purpose, be it moral or political. This attitude was revolutionary in Victorian England  where popular belief held that art was not only a function of morality but also a means of enforcing it! 
Part gothic novel, part comedy of manners, part treatise on the relationship between art and morality, The Picture of Dorian Gray continues to present its readers with a puzzle to sort out but, as Oscar Wilde wrote in the Preface :  “Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital”.

Let's find out more in the following PREZI presentation. 




You can also try THIS interesting interactive lesson  plan at Helbling Readers
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