by Kip Williams

Full-Length Play, Drama / 1any gender (adult)

“I am tired of myself tonight. I should like to be somebody else.”

Seeing himself in a dazzling new portrait, an exquisite young man makes a Faustian wish for eternal youth. Dorian Gray throws himself into a life of wanton luxury, drifting from the pampered salons of Victorian London to the darkest recesses of the capital, revelling in the splendour of his beauty, which remains forever golden. Meanwhile, the portrait – banished to an attic – becomes more and more grotesque.

Building on a career-long fascination with theatrical innovation and spectacular reinventions of classic stories (Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Suddenly Last Summer and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui), STC Artistic Director Kip Williams has written an adaption of Wilde’s century-old fable of beauty and a deal with the devil that is a magnificent mirror to our times. Earning a wave of five-star reviews, this vibrantly contemporary adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Grayis a “dazzling masterpiece no one should miss” (The Age).

by Jane Austen, Andrew Davies

Full-Length Play, Comedy / 13w, 7m

This  delightful stage adaptation of Austen’s most popular novel was written by Andrew Davies, author of the iconic 1995 BBC TV adaptation.

In Georgian England, when it was customary for only male heirs to inherit an estate, Mr and Mrs Bennet live in some comfort, but as they have five daughters and no son, it is imperative that the girls marry well.

Hopes rise when Mr Bingley, a rich bachelor, rents the nearby Netherfield estate. He attends the local ball with his sister and his friend Mr Darcy. He is immediately attracted to Jane, the eldest Bennet sister, and she to him. But Mr Darcy seems haughty and aloof, and declines to dance with Elizabeth, (our heroine) the spirited second Bennet daughter. She dislikes him on sight and fails to notice that he gradually becomes more and more attracted by her wit and intelligence.

Mr Collins, a distant cousin who stands to inherit the Bennet estate, comes to visit, with a view to marrying one of the Bennet sisters. He proposes to Elizabeth, who rejects him. Jane and Mr Bingley become fond of each other and Elizabeth’s secret adoration for Mr Darcy becomes apparent. The love between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy blossoms, despite his prejudice of her low social connections.