Fifty years on from the decriminalisation of homosexuality, Owen Horsley revisits Oscar Wilde’s Salomé in a radical new RSC production.

On 25 May 1895, poet, playwright, novelist and internationally renowned wit Oscar Wilde was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ and sentenced to two years’ hard labour. For years, Wilde had pursued same-sex love and romance free from interference, but somewhat inevitably for someone so much in the public eye, the draconian sexual morality laws of his time eventually caught up with him.

Though Wilde was never publicly ‘out’, as the prosecution in his trial underlined, the tell-tale signs of his sexuality are inscribed throughout his works in an array of unspeakable desires, from the yearning of painter Basil Hallward for his beautiful model in The Picture Of Dorian Gray, to the dizzying array of forbidden lusts alluded to in Salomé - including incest, adultery, murder, necrophilia, unrequited love for a social superior and desire for a celibate holy man, as well as subtle hints of homosexuality.

It’s the last of these that director Owen Horsley is setting out to radically reimagine at the RSC’s Swan Theatre this season. Fifty years on from the decriminalisation of Wilde’s ‘love that dare not speak its name’, the beautiful, bloodthirsty princess at the centre of the story will be portrayed for the first time by a male performer, Matthew Tennyson.

“One of the things we wanted to do at the RSC was to honour this anniversary year, and that led me to a way of viewing the play through a gay lens,” Horsley explains. “In a sense, it’s also looking at where we are now, because I think a lot of the arguments are now around gender. We’re looking at it in terms of gender fluidity and ambiguity, so while Matthew isn’t playing it as a girl, we’re not changing things like ‘she’ or ‘her’. We want to create a level of questioning in the audience.”

This notion of gender as something slippery, constructed or even performed is highlighted through a focus on heightened theatricality, reflected in the style and design.

“I really wanted to embrace the idea of theatre, so the set is kind of an extension of the Swan. For example, we have a lovely wooden door which feels like part of the stage floor. I felt very strongly about creating a space in which the language can live, because it’s so poetic and full of imagery that I think something that’s a bit starker helps the words to come alive.”

Nowhere is the self-referential emphasis on artifice and acting more apparent than in Salomé’s iconic dance - an erotic performance requested by her father-in-law, King Herod, in exchange for anything she asks of him. It’s a particularly unsettling scene which leads the story to its violent climax, and one for which Wilde offers little written direction.

“We’ve always seen the dance as a way of Salomé sticking two fingers up at Herod - the way she leads him on and gives him what he wants in order to get what she wants. But there’s also a moment in which the dance becomes about Salomé revealing who she is - a moment of exposing herself and being vulnerable. From that moment on, she has all the strength in the world.”

Of course, a dance requires music, and Horsley found the ideal accompaniment for his production in the songs of contemporary artist Mark Hadreas, better known as Perfume Genius.

“I’ve been a fan for years and years, and it was actually one of the first decisions I made. There’s a kind of mythic view on gender and sexuality in his lyrics that is to do with spirits, essence and feeling, which I think is so clear in Wilde’s writing, too.

“We’ve always tried to find a song that is an extension of the person who’s been speaking before, so it’s like the song adds to the feeling. It’s also a wonderfully unsentimental play, so I think it works that we’ve just used little bits and that the songs are sometimes cut off by the action.”

For the dance itself, he’s chosen the “muscular, heavy” number, Grid, which “builds [and] goes on a journey”, reflecting the importance of the moment for Salomé.

Redefining a classic role for the 21st century required careful casting - a performer who could not only fully inhabit the part, but who could also get to grips with Wilde’s language, and successfully bridge the gap between Ancient Rome, Victorian England and Britain today.

“I’ve worked a lot in classical theatre, which is very heightened and rhythmic, but the text in this play is very, very unique. It’s a play that’s filled with poetry, love, desire and also a lot of rage and anger. It takes a certain level of imagination, intelligence and wit to be able to deliver that, and Matthew has that in spades.”

Salomé’s exploration of issues around gender and power ties in neatly with the themes explored in Shakespeare plays like Antony & Cleopatra, currently running at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre as part of an ongoing Rome season.

“I also love Salomé because it’s so brilliantly political - it feels like there’s a whole political world about to crumble. Herod seems so much like a modern politician, especially when we live in a world with people like Trump. He has no filter, and that’s dangerous, and when you see him and hear him in the play, you think, my God, this is a scary world we’re in! He’s so emotionally volatile.”

This political angle is something being exploited much more openly in the National Theatre’s concurrent production of Salomé, with Yaël Farber rewriting the play to tell the story of a Middle Eastern uprising against corrupt Roman leaders, with obvious overtones of this century’s Arab Spring. Along with a Theatre Lab production at Hoxton Hall in February, Horsley’s take will be the third version of Salomé this year - surprising for a play so often overshadowed by Wilde’s more popular comedies.

“It’s crazy! It’s like buses - you wait for one for hours and then two come along at once. I find it so interesting that plays just seem to have a trend about them. But I love Yaël Farber’s work and her version is very different, so I’m looking forward to seeing how another director interprets the play.”

Despite a longstanding personal connection to its story, this year will mark the first time Horsley has ever seen the play performed on stage.

“I’ve never seen it, but it was in my house when I was a kid and I remember reading it when I was younger. I also remember going to the Met Museum in New York and seeing the Regnault painting of Salomé. My mum loved it and bought a print of it which still hangs in the house, so Salomé is one of those figures who has somehow always been present for me. Even though they’re done more, I feel like I know this play better than Wilde’s wittier comedies, and perhaps even know those plays better for doing this one.”

While the ability to approach a text free from the influence of earlier productions can be a gift for a director, attempting to stage the play has given Horsley some insight into why it’s so infrequently put on.

“It’s a pretty tough play to do. It’s brilliant but because it’s just one act, it lacks the form that other plays give you for free. You push the ball off the hill and it just keeps rolling, so you have to embrace that and enjoy the process of doing something that seems to be constantly spiralling out of control.”

Salomé shows at the RSC’s Swan Theatre from Friday 2 June until Wednesday 6 September.