Desire, obsession and tragedy: Ricky Dukes on adapting Oscar Wilde’s Salomé

Abstract

In his in-person and video production of Oscar Wilde’s one-act tragedy Salomé (1891), Ricky Dukes, Lazarus Theatre Company’s founder and artistic director, explores its treatment of the dynamics of power and perception, all the while updating the play for contemporary audiences. Dukes has directed over thirty productions for the Lazarus Theatre Company, including Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth and The Tempest, as well as newer works such as an adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954). Dukes and I examine, in what follows, some of the challenges of making theatre in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic; the resonances of Wilde’s play; his reading of it; and his creative decisions for this production, including the infamous Dance of the Seven Veils scene. Dukes takes stock of the gains and the losses for the individual characters and, in so doing, makes apparent how destructive their obsessions are. This interview, conducted in the pandemic’s early days, offers insights into his imaginative adaptation of Wilde and into the Victorians’ relevance for our own times.