Salome by Oscar Wilde (Full Play)

Salome by Oscar Wilde. The first major play I ever directed. Despite some flaws - the exact position of the cistern, my fear of really choreographing - I think it interesting to see some of the leitmotifs that have carried over through the years.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Oscar
• Wilde
• Salome
• Herod
• Herodias
• John
• the
• Baptist

[joeyfatone13]

continued...

I can appreciate the irony of the song selection, but it doesn't work in context of it's purpose. Also, why didn't you use 7 veils? That's like having a Hydra with one head!

Herod and Herodias rolling their eyes at each other as Salome has her monologue with the head was unbearable.

Salome's final curtain call was nice, I'll give you. Reaching for Iokanaan and losing him was effective.

[gaudete]

* Not the "Omen Theme" - check your classical music.

* Yup - the choreography wasn't all that. Read the sidebar.

* Re: "Dawson's Creek" - I presume you mean the accent? See below.

* I didn't use seven veils b/c from my research it turned out that there IS no actual dance of the seven veils; it's something Wilde invented.

* Have you directed a version? I'd be delighted to see other renderings.

[nicksum29]

I enjoyed it very much, but oh, oh, oh - the American accents are just not convincing. But then again, I am a traditional old biddy when it comes to St. Wilde.

[gaudete]

Thank you very much - and I totally understand that American (or at least non-British) accents aren't everyone's cup of tea. Would it help to know that originally the play was produced in France? :D

[loveGod19]

i have never seen this play before. what is the synopsis?

[gaudete]

Presumably by now you've gotten the gist of the play? :)

[bunnyshooz]

@gaudete " I didn't use seven veils b/c from my research it turned out that there IS no actual dance of the seven veils; it's something Wilde invented." Isn't that the point of putting on his show? To use the bits he created? After all, there was no mention in the original biblical text of Salome lusting after John the Baptist.

[ilovecinematv]

Iokanaan cannot look at the Princess and cannot see her eyes if he wants to preserve his purity. It's such a pity!

[bluejays1945]

dude you just help me pass an english test. you rock. great play. your a good director man

[ZenPapageno]

She is like the shadow of a white rose on a mirror of silver.

[jamesjeffreypaul]

Of course, most of the actors in this production won't go on to careers with the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, but this was a very well-done production. As for how it's performed--as brilliant as Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations and Alla Nazimova's 1924 "all-gay" film were, I think they've unfairly given people the idea that the play can ONLY be performed in a "campy," flagrantly "gay" fashion. Playing it "straight" (horrible pun intended) might allow people to view it in a new way.

[KingsCrossHarry]

I've only read the play. It must be very difficult to perform. It has to be high camp, erotic, decadent. The acting in this version is flat. Salome should be a spoilt brat full of confidence and her speech describing Jokanaan should be full of sex. The young Syrian captain should be less shouty and more imploring, more desperately in love. Herod is a bit shouty too. Generally, the words should be spoken more slowly and there is no sense of doom.

[MastersoftheOpera]

Straight stage productions of Salome don't work in our time. The only great Salomes on stages is the Richard Strauss opera of Salome. Its libretto (the lines the cast sings) s straight from this play and the music is so dramatic and powerful and it's just marvelous. I highly recommend it. You shoulda have put some of that Strauss opera music in here to make it more dramatic/climatic.

[MastersoftheOpera]

Gaudete; you did a great job of directing. The costumes, the lighting/set is fine. But I'm afraid, darling, that your actors aren't any good. This is a dark play and Salome is supposed to be played darker, crazier. She's lusting for blood. The only reason it's hard to do this play in our present time is because this is such an old play from the 1900 to 1914 period, 100 yrs ago. The acting styles have changed.

[thailies]

STOP FUCKING COUGHING!