Fame, lust and drugs: Dorian Gray staged as a genderfluid rock musical

Alfie Friedman delves into the dark side to star in Linnie Reedman and Joe Evans’ Southwark Playhouse production

It was Oscar Wilde’s only novel, but one whose subject matter about the desire for eternal youth still resonates more than 130 years after its publication. Now The Picture of Dorian Gray has been turned into a contemporary musical with an emphasis not just on self obsession and fame, but also gay sex and hard drug-taking.

“Oscar would be delighted for his novel to be adapted as a musical celebrating open queerness,” says Linnie Reedman, creator and director of Dorian: The Musical. “Yet our Dorian also has moral quandaries and tortuous moments.”