Confused without direction

Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Pictures of John Gray explored themes surrounding masculine notions of beauty. The devised piece was at times moving and funny but ultimately suffered from a lack of depth and overarching direction.

A montage of scenes, the play offered a fragmented view of masculinity, reflected in the striking art work and photography used to build the set. Our host, a charismatic and disturbing cabaret pianist (Ivan Juritz) brought the ensemble to life through a series of elegantly staged tango dances. His duet with the restaurant musician (Michael Sweetman) was particularly humorous and there was some great audience interaction and physical comedy to boot.

The play was not merely comical. The audience were made to feel compassion, pity and sadness for characters that failed to see beyond their own reflections and thus sowed the seeds of their own misery. The ensemble was strong, the musicians were great and it was clear that the emotional involvement of the cast was at times real and personal.

The physical skill of the performers was often undermined by a heavy reliance on monologues to convey meaning, a great shame considering how strong some of the movement sequences were. The absence of meaningful dialogue resulted in some static and one-dimensional scenes which didn’t seem to lead anywhere and this was the downfall of the piece.

Pictures of John Gray was a worthwhile venture with some charismatic and moving performances with moments of promise and charm. However, the distinct lack of depth and direction left the audience alienated from the world on stage and unable to identify closely with any one character. The rapid changes meant that scenes with potential for development were never revisited and left unexplored. These moments were too few; there was nothing to drive the performance forward and challenge the audience. Beautiful at times, John Gray never quite managed to go deeper than the skin.