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east anglian story telling festival

Young Writers Competition: Jack Gillbanks

Earlier this year, we launched our Young Writers Competition. We contacted a handful of the regions schools and colleges, as well as sharing it across our own platforms, to see if there were any budding young journo’s out there whom had an interest in the arts and were up for the challenge of writing about it. It was there to make it their own. After a careful selection process, we chose Jack Gillbanks entry as our winner – we loved the detail, knowledge and passion that shone through on this piece. 

If you think you could be our next Young Writer, contact us at info@grapevinelive.co.uk. We would love to keep highlighting the future talent in our region! 

Please Note: The Picture of Dorian Gray streamed via New Wolsey Theatre in March 2021, which we also reviewed at the time, and unfortunately is no longer available to view. 

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A careful unravelling of the ‘real’ Dorian Gray locked and encrypted behind each text message, Instagram post and YouTube video. The hunt for the key is most certainly on.

Over the past year, we’ve all immersed ourselves in modern technology. Whether it be the daily work meeting or catching up with friends and family, we’ve all ‘logged on’ a little more than usual; but have we all thought any more about the many dangers that we may face when using these online platforms? Whether the answer is yes or no to the above question, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a must-watch. With an all-star cast, including Joanna Lumley, Stephen Fry and Fionn Whitehead, it explores the delicate life of an English student, Dorian Gray, and his girlfriend, Sibyl, who both end up ripped to shreds by the demons lurking behind the false façade of profile pics online. Put on by the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich [in collaboration with other regional theatres across the country], this virtual performance is a real eye-opener to the dangers of the virtual world, which all generations have now become accustomed to in some way, shape or form. 

Highly intriguing and visually compelling from the start, the writers transport Oscar Wilde’s classic character, Dorian Grey, from the 19th century into the 21st century, where he is ‘reborn’ to see how he would cope with the many challenges the modern world brings. For me, this modern twist worked extremely well and exposed the harsh reality of becoming famous behind the screen. Also, when you explore what’s behind it, you soon discover the trap they find themselves falling rapidly into. But what’s more upsetting is when there’s no going back; it soon forces many youngsters to hide and lock themselves away in order to “sell [themselves] for likes and comments”, rather than shine a light on their true self for fear of being judged, bullied, harassed or threatened. 

Ultimately, this production is tied together with its framing devices, which are used brilliantly and efficiently by the writers, in order to maintain maximum suspense and tension throughout this highly dramatic performance. Packed with lots of flashbacks, it provides a constant reminder of the many tragedies Dorian faced, presenting a key message to the audience that nothing online goes away; it gets firmly stuck to your identity with no way of peeling it off. More importantly, though, this acts as a constant reminder for Dorian, with each anecdote contributing to his and Sybil’s constant decline in their mental wellbeing. Finally, the fact Dorian’s story is told in the past tense, as well as anecdotally through his friends and family, created an even more sombre atmosphere as it forced them to reminisce on the dreadful mistakes they’d made, thus contributing to Dorian’s worsening mental state. 

Additionally, the writers used characterisation really effectively in order to develop highly realistic and relatable characters to those watching in the audience, in the ‘real world.’ For me, Dorian can be seen as both the protagonist and the tragic hero, whose fatal flaw was his false presence on social media that “played many parts”, allowing his “real friends [to be] evaporated, which I find extremely frustrating, as he was locking out those who cared about him most, and unlocking himself to those who enjoyed throwing abuse at him. 

I’m going to wrap this up with what I feel is one of the most important aspects of the whole production: the overall purpose. At a time when we are all online a lot more due to the pandemic, the message of staying safe in the digital world and knowing who to trust in it couldn’t come at a more poignant moment. With thousands of teenagers and young adults being constantly dragged into the vicious virtual cyclone of self-obsession, and extensive scrutiny over their appearance and body image, the overall purpose of this production is to try and light up your screen and sound your notification alert as a warning of the astonishing damage social media can cause, and to prevent as many people as possible being tempted by the false promises of being better off if all of a sudden, millions of people start following you.

For me, the production encompasses this message brilliantly and from start to finish reiterates that popularity online cannot buy you happiness. Finally, through the use of Dorian’s close friends and family network in the ‘real world’, it shows that no matter how strong your connection is with your family and friends, the virtual world doesn’t care who its victims are and will tear through each and everyone until they’ve swiped the off button for good. 

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