REVIEW: The Picture of Dorian Gray. Malvern Theatres.

SELLING your soul for enduring good looks is probably never a great idea; but who on earth would know?

However, Dorian Gray, the anti-hero of Oscar Wilde’s great novella is in the position to explain all the existential pitfalls, in case we are interested. It is not always a pretty sight, as this latest production from Tilted Wig Productions reveals.

Let’s be honest, Gavin Fowler is not everyone’s idea of the evil heart-throb, but his acting is up to the challenge. He enters the stage with the bashfulness of an Oxbridge organ scholar but is soon being truly wicked, while reminding one of a psychotic David Walliams.

By the time he’s really sticking the knife in - in more ways than one - he has all the menace of Jack the Ripper. But his murder of the love-struck artist, Basil Hallward, played touchingly by the aptly-named Daniel Goode, is one of the genuinely Gothic moments in this production, and there’s the rub.

It could be argued that The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) is one of a hat-trick of late Victorian Gothic novels, the other two being The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and Dracula (1897). With this production, I missed the Gothic shadows. Indeed, I was dismayed at times by the over-confidence placed in flashing lights and a strobe light for special effects. In short, acting that is often superb is let down by so-so production values and a lack of focus and direction when it comes to costume and set design. Indeed, at times, there was even an unfortunate hint of Dr Who.

Without giving too much away, the portrait itself is a disappointment. After all, Basil might be the artist but it’s Dorian who is the leering patron saint of the selfie. Dorian’s evil ways, of course, alter the picture until it is a reflection of his festering soul. (One might say the same thing about many ‘doctored’ images on Facebook, in these more modern times.)

Special praise must go to Jonathan Wrather, as the decadent but ultimately insincere Lord Henry Wotton. (He is unreasonably upset after his wife leaves him for a pianist; but you can’t beat a bit of Chopin.)

Wotton - initially debonaire but eventually bedraggled - is Dorian’s psychopomp guide to the hidden hells of London; but with this production it was difficult to know whether they were enjoying 1990s rave culture or the Victorian music hall. There was even an unfortunate visual quotation from Lolita, with two young temptresses licking lollipops. Speaking of the music hall, Kate Dobson was touching as the doomed actress Sybil Vane, and her deliberately hammy rendition of Shakespeare was one of the play’s highlights - most amusing.

It’s a difficult novella to grapple with, because Wilde himself probably wasn’t sure of his sympathies (and, in fact, he admitted as much).

It is also, clearly, a tricky story to bring to the stage. But this version is worth seeing, if only for the strength of the acting.

A Picture of Dorian Gray runs until Saturday (May 11).