The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde's witty prose, so often shaped into lovely aphorisms, cries out to be read aloud. As a result, this fine adaptation has a lot to work with, and the members of the cast deliver it well, bringing out both the glittering surface and underlying emotional resonance of this macabre tale of forbidden passion and hidden sin. As fits the prose, the actors often seem to be declaiming, and each line can stand alone. This makes the work all the more apt for audio production. The only weakness is an excess of sound effects. They aren't bad, but they aren't needed. Wilde's wit is enough in itself. G.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine


This remarkable rendering perfectly captures the spirit and characters of the chilling melodrama that scandalized polite society when first published in 1890. Enthralled with his own physical beauty, Dorian Gray wishes his portrait to grow old while he himself stays young, and Wilde makes it so. Just as the portrait mirrors the ravages of Gray's soul, Petherbridge's narration exudes decadence, hedonism and destruction--every syllable foreshadowing the protagonist's dismal end. The narrator's storytelling and narrative skill are exemplary. R.B.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine