Imagine the average British public’s reception of it. The piece is written in French–half Biblical, half pornographic–by Oscar Wilde himself. of a 1 act piece … written by Oscar Wilde! It is a miracle of impudence … love turns to fury because John will not let her kiss him in the mouth – and in the last scene, where she brings in his head–if you please–on a ‘charger’– she does kiss his mouth, in a paroxysm of sexual despair. I must send you, for your private edification and amusement, this MS. Official reason: presentation of Biblical characters on stage (16 th-century law), but privately the censor Edward Pigott writes to a friend, Spencer Posonby, about his real motivations: Petra Dierkes-Thrun, Stanford University Oscar Wilde’s Salomé: Contextġ892 The English theatrical censor bans the play from public performance as rehearsals were in full swing with Sarah Bernhardt in London in June of 1892.
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