Jo Hirons McAvoy- Kill That Woman!

Kill That Woman!

The Fatal Princess and the Forgotten Pandemic – the True Story of Oscar Wilde’s Salome and the Dance of the Seven Veils

The story of the Judean princess who danced for King Herod and won the head of John the Baptist is well known. Since her legend was first written down, no more than 40 years after she allegedly took to the floor, Salome – one of the Bible’s bad girls – has inspired poets and painters, none more so than Oscar Wilde who created his definitive tragedy in 1891. That play went on to inspire the Salomaniaof the early 20th century in which famous actresses and dancers vied with each other to bring their personal vision of Wilde’s fatal princess to the stage.

Wilde used the age-old story to craft a brutal play in which he explored the inescapable, destructive nature of his own forbidden desires,…