Salome

Salome is a tragedy of Oscar Wilde whose original version of 1891 is in French. A translation into English followed three years later. The play, in one act, rests on the biblical episode of Salome, 1 the daughter-in-law of the tetrarch of Galilee Herod Antipas, who, to the dismay of his father-in-law, but to the delight of his mother Herodias, Brings him the head of Iokanaan (John the Baptist) on a silver platter as a reward for performing the seven-veil dance. Versions and firsts Wilde wrote this play to Paris, where he had retired after completing Lady Windermere's Fan. He dedicated it to Pierre Louÿs, who made some corrections to the text but intervened very little. Seduced by the title role, Sarah Bernhardt decided to interpret it herself, and the rehearsals began at the Palace Theater in London. These rehearsals, however, had to be interrupted when the Lord Chamberlain's censorship had banned Salomé on the grounds that it was illegal to represent biblical figures on stage. Indignant, Wilde envisioned renouncing his British nationality and becoming French so as not to have to undergo such restrictions.