The current draft of Act 2 of my operatic setting of Dorian Gray. Following on from the
Prologue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83upL...) and
Act 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNUD4...),
Act 2 opens some years later, with Dorian lying, blissed out, in an opium den. As he leaves, one of the prostitutes he has been with that evening calls out "Farewell, Prince Charming" alerting an as-yet-unseen James Vane, brother of the actress whom Dorian drove to suicide, to his presence. Vane rises and rages about the death of his sister, before charging out after Dorian, cornering him, and preparing to execute him. Dorian, ageless as he now is, convinces James that he is not the man he is looking for, and makes his escape. However, the prostitute returns and confirms that to James that he was indeed Dorian Gray, and Vane sets off after him again.
We next see Lady Victoria Wotton sitting alone in her town-house, awaiting her husband, who stumbles in after a night on the town, twittering inanely before Victoria announces she's written him a letter, and that, in summary, she is leaving him. Henry tries in vain to ask her to stay, but she refuses him, and he is left alone to consider his actions.
A week later, Dorian and Henry have gone for a weekend in the country with many other aristocrats. Dorian recounts the festivities of the previous evening, with Henry bantering against the rest of the guests, distracting them from Dorian's fear that he is still being chased by James Vane - until Dorian screams and collapses upon seeing a face in the window.
The next morning, all of the guests gather for a shooting party, and, on their first shot, they manage to hit something other than the intended fowl. Dorian is terrified until he discovers who has been killed - James Vane!
Henry convinces Dorian to return to London to convalesce, and in the final scene, we come across the pair of them at Dorian's house a few days later, as Dorian tells of his attempt to do good works, as part of his effort to live a better life. He tells of one final romance that he had for a few days on his journey back to London - a country girl, Hetty, whom he let down gently rather than ruin. Henry is, however, sceptical, and questions his motives, before Dorian asks to change the subject. Grasping for a different topic, Henry brings up the portrait, which Dorian pretends he has lost somewhere over the years, saying that he never really liked it anyway. The discussion turns towards the soul, and in steering the subject away from anything too deep, Henry asks Dorian to play something at the piano. As Dorian plays, Henry bumbles over the top, becoming more and more adoring until Dorian loses his temper, and tells him to stop. Henry, preparing to leave, asks Dorian to meet him in the park later. Dorian agrees, but after Henry has left, begins to brood on the painting. Unveiling it, he compares himself to it in a mirror, and, disgusted, he hurls the glass away. Becoming more and more fixated upon the painting and his various guilts. He finally takes up a knife and plunges it into the painting,
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