Sarah Snook Will Hit London's West End To Play TWENTY-SIX CHARACTERS In 'The Picture Of Dorian Gray'
Pssssssh. Sarah Snook don't need no break. Sure, she just came off a killer performance as Shiv Roy in Succession, one of the best TV shows ever. Even welcomed her first child sometime this year. Has a movie she exec produced dropping on Netflix next week titled Run Rabbit Run. Then another flick, The Beanie Bubble, hitting on Apple TV+ next month.
Even with all THAT going on, she ain't resting on her laurels. Nah. Fuck that. Snook is like, "Give me 26 characters to play by myself. I got this."
Mad respect. If anyone's doubting whether or not Snook can pull this off, first of all, have you seen Succession? That should quell any doubts as to her acting chops. Oh but...you maybe don't think she's versatile enough to play 26 distinct, different peeps in one show and make it interesting? Then let me direct you to 2014's criminally underrated sci-fi thriller Predestination costarring Ethan Hawke.
Not going to spoil that thing at all, but if anyone's looking for Snook's other work post-Succession, this is a wonderful place to start. She probably should've gotten some sort of big-time award nomination for Predestination. Not sure why she didn't to be honest. I feel like a decade ago, maybe the world wasn't quite ready for what she did just yet.
Anyway, back to this adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was originally a novel by Oscar Wilde. It's about a character named Dorian who has a perpetually youthful appearance despite a wild, hedonistic lifestyle. That inner decay is reflected in a portrait of himself and ends up driving him mad. More or less that's the gist of the story. A commentary/criticism of uptight Victorian England. It was required reading in high school and I had a lot of fun with it.
In the novel, I don't recall there being 26 characters, so I don't know what the heck we're in for with this 12-week London run in January. Per Deadline, Sydney Theatre Company artistic director Kip Williams put this production together and already mounted it with a different lead actor Eryn Jean Norvill.
The whole "cine-theater" style means the lead actor films some of the scenes, and then will interact as a different character in a live theatre setting. Clearly you can't have someone running around, constantly changing costumes and trying to do all 26 parts on a single stage. Even still, what a daunting acting challenge this will be. I imagine if it goes well in the West End, Dorian Gray and Snook will move to Broadway at some point in 2024.
But yeah, this is gonna be awesome. Really hope the show comes stateside next year. Sarah Snook is about to kill it. For those of you who didn't board the Succession wagon, I won't ruin anything and instead just drop the Season 1 trailer below for safety.
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