Oscar Wilde’s only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray has proved ripe ground for adaptation, with numerous stage and screen iterations over the years. The challenge then, I suspect is how to make it exciting and ensure it resonates with your audience. Enter Cirencester’s Barn Theatre, who, reuniting the team behind the phenomenally successfull What A Carve Up! and in collaboration with Lawrence Batley Theatre, New Wolsey Theatre, Oxford Playhouse and Theatr Clwyd have created a vision that is chillingly seductive and topically razor sharp.

The strength in Henry Filloux-Bennett’s writing is the subtle way he has reframed this story: Dorian Gray is an English Literature student who turns to social media during the pandemic as a way to stay connected. As he struggles to grow his influence, he makes a deal: his soul in exchange for the perfect self he projects to the world to remain undimmed. As darkness and corruption begin to creep in and those around him become increasingly concerned, Dorian will soon come to realise that his debt must be paid.

Immediately, placing the story in the realm of social media makes it eerily relevant, and strikingly it doesn’t shy away from exploring some incredibly dark subject matter: the way social media can impact on mental health, trolling and so on. Being an active user of most social media platforms and having an awareness of all these conversations myself makes for an incredibly intense experience, but it’s the relevancy and immediacy that drawn you in and keep you invested. There’s also an element of “whodunnit” in the narrative, as we meet characters who knew Dorian and are reflecting on events as the Interviewer (Stephen Fry) gets them thinking. We start this story where Wilde’s novel ends, and the piece as a whole feels incredibly smart and self aware with moments of wit and humour subtly blended in.

Though it’s a something of a slow burner, director Tamara Harvey harnesses this energy beautifully – the performances feel beautifully nuanced and understated, but there’s an undercurrent of tension simmering away that ensures it hits all the right emotional beats, and interestingly it raises questions about who we believe: each of these characters being interviewed has their own version of events – could they have done more to prevent the tragedies? The beauty also moves out from the storytelling into the production’s aesthetic: the set and costume design by Holly Piggott and character design by Bryony Collishaw give us neat nods to the original novel, and the lighting design is so hauntingly atmospheric that it almost becomes another character in itself: the colour palette and intensity changes as the story grows steadily darker, as does Harry Smith’s soundscape and music. Director of Photography and Editor Benjamin Collins keeps the line between fiction and reality cleverly blurred: all interaction here is done by a combination of video calls, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, TikTok, all the comments and engagements being brought to our attention whenever the story requires, taking over our screens.

Fionn Whitehead brings a quiet intensity to the titular role that’s captivating from start to end. As Dorian becomes steadily immersed in maintaining his seemingly perfect image, Whitehead is careful to adapt everything from his tone to his body language, often in the smallest, most precise ways that can totally change the emotional impact of a scene. This is particularly striking in one of the latter scenes where Dorian confronts Basil (Russell Tovey), the software developer who gave Dorian his dream around his true feelings and motives. That exchange between the two actors is so rivetingly unsettling that it’s worth the ticket price alone!

There’s scene stealing work from a charming Alfred Enoch as Dorian’s friend Harry Wooten, who finds himself unwittingly yet irrevocably drawn into the unrelenting obsession with social media. The dynamic between the two characters is palpable and endearing, as Dorian changes throughout the piece, so to does Harry as he becomes more vulnerable and aware of his emotions. The power and control in their relationship constantly shifts, which gives the piece new depth and meaning.

Joanna Lumley’s Lady Narborough strikes a lovely balance between confidence, flirtation and tender reflection that endears her almost immediately, Russell Tovey handles Basil with a deft, assured touch that hones in on his secretive, conflicted nature: he makes no secret of his adoration of Dorian, but must show it through private words and secret gifts. Emma McDonald’s breathtaking turn as Sybil Vane gives us tender sweetness and heartbreaking vulnerability all in one: she becomes the lynchpin where we finally see Dorian change following a tragic night for Sybil as she gets her big break.

There’s a temptation to feel nervous about adapting such well known work as an audience member, but the creative team and cast here have done a remarkable job in giving this story the 21st century edge that suits it incredibly well.

The Picture of Dorian Gray runs until 31 March