Theater: "Salome" at Imago Theatre

Who wrote the Salome currently playing at Imago Theatre in Portland? Oscar Wilde, of course. But I still feel a strong authorial attachment to the material because director Jerry Mouawad had me reduce the original ensemble size (and its attendant crowds) to a mere eight players, and encouraged me to find ways to gently shift the language to accommodate his production's needs. And so now, alongside the title character and John the Baptist, the lusting Herod and his wife Herodias, this Salome has two wholly new characters -- a Traveling Merchant and an old Palace Servant -- as well as a much more influential Tigellinus and a much less passive Page. I wrote more about my dramaturgical/revisionary process for Oregon ArtsWatch, and while I've yet to see the production myself, I'm relieved that the critics haven't expressed any grievances re: my changes. To the contrary, the response has been largely favorable:

• "Imago Theatre’s mesmerizing production embraces the wonderful weirdness of Oscar Wilde’s verse play." - Linda Ferguson, Oregon ArtsWatch

• "Mouawad has staged a harsh, complex study of some of the darker characters in the human circus." - John Rudoff, Portland Mercury

• "More than 130 years later, Wilde’s Salome still shocks, and Imago Theatre boldly commits to the bit down to every detail." - Andrew Jankowski, Willamette Week

I'll be seeing the show this coming weekend and am unquestionably looking forward to it. As Wilde once quipped, "I love acting. It is so much more real than life."

The above production photo of director Jerry Mouawad's Salome was taken by Emma Holland and is used here courtesy of Imago Theatre.