Season Two of "Confessions" Definitely Worth the Tuppence

It’s odd thinking of Dorian Gray as a Doctor Who spinoff, of all things, which, of course, it’s not.  That’s like saying that Sherlock Holmes could be seen as a part of the Doctor Who universe just because he appeared in the novel All-Consuming Fire.  Nevertheless, it’s hard not to deny that the Dorian Gray who appears in the Big Finish download-only range The Confessions of Dorian Gray is very much the same “version” of the character who appeared in the Bernice Summerfield audio Shades of Gray (the second story in the Legion box set).  This is partially because he is played by the wonderful Alexander Vlahos (who originated the character in the Benny story), and secondly because it follows on from some of the ideas seeded in Shades of Gray.  As the Big Finish website states:

Inspired by Oscar Wilde's classic story of hedonism and corruption, The

Confessions of Dorian Gray imagines a world where Dorian Gray was real,

and his friendship with Oscar Wilde spawned the notorious novel.

I thought I’d write a few lines about the current series of Confessions because—although it is not yet complete (there is one more episode due in the second season at the time of writing, plus Big Finish’s upcoming adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s original novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.  There’s also a Halloween special coming out in October)—it has offered a delightful new morsel each week, and I’d love to expose some of you to this wonderful range before its second season winds down.

Even more so than Season One, the current series has offered a myriad of possibilities in the current stories.  A dark psychological thriller one week, a lighter comedy the next, The Confessions of Dorian Gray plays with its format almost as much as Doctor Who does.  Interestingly, in the first season of Confessions, the stories progressed through the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st centuries, so that each tale took place at a later date than the previous one.  The final story, The Fallen King of Britain, thus took place in modern times.  Season Two follows a similar trend, but is working its way backward; The Picture of Loretta Delphine therefore takes place in the summer of 2012, and the next story, The Lord of Misrule is set in March of 1964.  The remaining tales progress further and further into the mists of history.  (There is some indication that the final episode, Running Away With You, will play with this movement a bit.  We’ll see next Friday).

As I’ve mentioned, the jump from genre to genre is even more evident in the current series than it was in Season One, which had more of an overall darkness pervading its stories.  That’s not to say that the stories aren’t in infused with a basic level of horror—they are—and this is most evident in the season opener.  After an exploration of Dorian’s own mythology in last Christmas’s holiday special The Ghosts of Christmas Past, we are treated to yet another example of an image holding the soul or essence of an individual in The Picture of Loretta Delphine.  One of the darker stories this season, and closer in tone to the last series, Loretta Delphine is a psychological thriller that makes excellent use of its setting (the Florida Everglades).  In fact, I have to confess that in earthbound audio stories, I often don’t think of the setting as being a hugely important aspect of the storytelling.  I don’t know why that is; I suppose I simply think of some of my favourite audio stories as being more plot or character driven.  The Picture of Loretta Delphine, however, is very much a product of its setting, and the chilling twist at the end seems to grow organically from the swamps and bogs of the deepest American south.  This is not to say that writer Gary Russell’s characterization is anything but superb; Dorian Gray has the opportunity to observe tales as they unfold across generations, and we learn that they people he has touched—in this case the character of Kayla Grant, mysteriously played by Katharine Mangold—are often hiding secrets as dark as his own.

The second story in season two is Simon Barnard’s The Lord of Misrule.  I like to think of it as Dorian Gray Does “Quadrophenia”, as it explores many of the same themes and events as The Who’s famous rock opera, albeit with a more supernatural background.  Given particular attention is the escalating violence between the Mods and the Rockers, who represented the two juxtaposing modern musical visions in 1960s Britain.  In addition to a fascinating story involving an other-worldly entity, The Lord of Misrule also features an amazing soundscape, including new songs by Ioan Morris and Rhys Downing.

I expected much more of a Agatha Christie-style whodunit from the season’s third outing, David Llewellyn’s Murder on 81^st Street, but I was pleasantly surprised by a much more comic outing than previous audios.  Sarah Douglas is enchanting as Dorothy Parker, an old acquaintance of Dorian’s and the action of the story—while certainly grotesque and bizarre (it wouldn’t be Dorian Gray otherwise!)—is much lighter than on previous occasions.  The chemistry between Vlahos and Douglas is wonderful, and the banter between them adds a unique facet to this audio adventure.

Which brings us to this previous week’s installment, and probably one of my favourite stories in the range, Nev Fountain’s The Immortal Game.  Although the story is largely narrated—particularly the first half—and is performed by only two actors (Vlahos as Dorian, and Counter-Measures’ Hugh Ross as the Montague brothers).  There’s so little I want to reveal about this story, as the shocking twist at the end (which I do admit, I saw coming—but only when it was too late) is something not to be missed.  Needless to say, it starts with an ongoing chess match between two estranged brothers, and ends in a realm which makes perfect sense, given Dorian Gray’s source material.

One more episode in this season remains—next Friday’s Running Away With You (which features none other than Lalla Ward as Constance Harker).  I’ll be back to post a short review of this season finale, but if you haven’t had a chance to listen to this wickedly delicious addition to the Big Finish canon, I highly recommend it.  On top of everything, Big Finish is also releasing this month a full adaptation of the novel that inspired it all, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.  And I couldn’t be happier: Dorian Gray is on the syllabus for one of the English Lit. classes I’m teaching next semester, and what better way to introduce my students to it…