Salomé

Salomé, the haunting one-act tragedy that marks Wilde's first great success in the theatre, retells the Biblical story in which the stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas demands the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter as a reward for her dancing for her stepfather's amusement. Written in 1891, and prepared for its first run in 1892, rehearsals of Salomé had to be cancelled when the play was banned by the Lord Chamberlain due to its depiction of religious characters.

Undaunted, Wilde moved on to the drawing-room and society comedies he is today best known for, wowing London audiences with Lady Windermere's Fan and A Woman of No Importance, and it was only in 1894 that Salomé saw the light of day in an English translation, with a series of specially commissioned illustrations by the up-and-coming Aubrey Beardsley.

About the Author
Wilde, Oscar: - "Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854-1900) was an author, poet and one of the best-known playwrights in the English canon. His private life is widely discussed, since his sexuality and relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas led him to his being convicted for 'gross indecency'. He was sentenced to two years' hard labour, and while in prison he wrote De Profundis, a letter to Douglas describing the trials of his incarceration, which was eventually published in expurgated form. He is best remembered today for his short-story collections for children, The Happy Prince and A House of Pomegranates, his poetry, especially The Ballad of Reading Gaol, his novel Dorian Gray and his plays - particularly Salome and his drawing-room and society comedies Lady Windermere's Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest."