‘Dorian Gray’ takes Wilde to moody heights

“All art is quite useless,” wrote Oscar Wilde in the preface of his novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Nevertheless, there’s a useful lesson about artistic beauty in the story of a man whose face stays youthful and alluring while his portrait uglifies with each expression of his unruly passions and sins.

Kenneth Stack, artistic director at Acadia Repertory Theatre in Somesville has adapted the novel as a stage play, which opened earlier this week under the direction of veteran visiting director Wayne Loui. The piece is filled with direct line-liftings from Wilde’s original text and the mood of the Victorian setting is perfectly preserved in both Stack’s script and Loui’s design for the show.

In short, this is melodrama, complete with eerie music, velvet-covered furniture and spirited pontifications of high emotion. It’s perfect fogbound, wind-ripped summer theater – if you like that sort of thing.

While there’s no shortage of Wilde’s wit in this script, I tend to like my period pieces with a bit less weight and wallop. I find the original story a bit plodding, and stage adaptations tend not to be able to overcome that. This script is, inevitably, no exception.

The story opens with Basil Hallward finishing a portrait of the young and enticing gentleman Dorian Gray. Lord Henry Wotton thinks the portrait is among Basil’s best and tries to persuade him to submit it for public display. No, says Basil. The painting of Dorian is more private. It is, we find out, the product of artistic idolatry.

Even when Dorian sees it, he cannot help being moved by his own beauty. He is so taken, he issues a formal wish: that he remain young and the portrait grow old, that the portrait’s face bear the burdens of life while his own visage remains untarnished, full of the delicate bloom of youth and loveliness.

The rest is doom for old Dorian. Or young Dorian, as he is finally cursed to be.

At the final dress rehearsal, the actors were still finding their way with the script and the set, but seemed well on their way to tightening up this moody production. Technically, the show may prove finally to overstep itself with voice-overs that intrude in the name of internal monologues or memories, but are simply unnecessary and distracting.

The three lead performers – Christopher Berry as Basil, Doug Meswarb as Lord Henry and Chris Korte as Dorian – show true camaraderie as actors. When they get their timing down, they will collectively have the power to carry this show with the serious brush strokes and nuances that it demands – especially if Korte discontinues a habit of whispering and scowling to portray the horrors of his character.

Supporting cast members, some of whom play more than one role, are less fluid and sometimes downright indecipherable with their English accents. They are also less decisive about the genre of the piece.

It’s likely that this production will eventually defy Wilde’s own story and, as it ages, become more desirable and attractive. For those who cannot understand why anyone would want to adapt this work for the stage, wait for a mist covered night to go – just to up the stakes a bit.

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” will be performed Tuesday-Sunday at 8:15 p.m. through July 28, and 2 p.m. July 29 at the Acadia Repertory Theatre in Somesville. For more information, call 244-7260.