Sarah Snook has been announced as the sole cast member in the forthcoming West End production of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
The actor, who has received widespread acclaim for her performance as Shiv Roy in Succession, will play all 26 roles in the show, adapted from Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel of the same name.
In the story, Dorian Gray makes a deal with the devil in order to retain eternal youth for the high price of his soul.
Snook, 35, will play all roles using a mixture of live performance and video starting on 23 January 2024 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
This imagining of the tale will be directed by the artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company, Kip Williams, who also adapted the play.
This marks Snook’s second stint on the West End stage. She made her London theatre debut in 2016 in an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder alongside Ralph Fiennes.
In a statement, Snook said: “I am elated to return to the London stage in such an astonishing piece of theatre.
“From Oscar Wilde’s remarkable original text to Kip Williams’ stunning adaptation, this story of morality, innocence, narcissism and consequence is going to be thrilling to recreate for a new audience. I can’t wait.”
Sarah Snook— (Getty Images)
The London production is going ahead as a result of a partnership between the Sydney Theatre Company and the Michael Cassel Group.
Cassel said: “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.”
Snook, who is Australian, has been particularly praised for her American accent while playing Shiv in Succession. Her overall performance garnered her a Critics Choice Award, a Golden Globe and two Emmy nominations.
She shared an emotional tribute to the hit HBO drama on the night its final episode aired (Sunday 28 May).
“It’s hard to express what this show has meant to me. The places I got to go, the immense talent I got to work with… it breaks my heart that it is all over,” she wrote in the caption of a photo of her watching TV with her newborn baby.
“But my heart had to be this full of all the memories, good times, challenges and triumphs, to be able to break at all… so that makes me grateful. To have been blessed to join this crazy adventure of a show will be a career highlight, which will no doubt be hard to top.”
