Sarah Snook: Succession star says 'beauty has an expiry date'

Actress Sarah Snook has said she has become more aware that "beauty has an expiry date" while working on her new play, the Picture of Dorian Gray.

The Succession star is starring in a one-woman adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel in London's West End.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that relying too much on one's beauty is a "slippery slope".

"What I'm learning with Dorian Gray is defining oneself in that realm, it has an expiry date of some sort," she said.

Dealing with themes of morality, narcissism and excess, The Picture of Dorian Gray tells the story of a young man who sells his soul in exchange for eternal youth and beauty.

The show's titular protagonist makes a deal that his body will retain perfect youth, while a recently-painted portrait of him - representing his soul - grows older and uglier instead.

Snook said the themes of the play also touch on how someone's beauty can impact those around them, and how power can be abused.

"It expands beyond just youth and beauty, what does one do with unlimited power gained through youth and beauty?" Snook said.

"And if there's no checks and balances on an individual, and everyone around this one person wants to possess and control and have a taste of that youth and beauty, what does the person who owns that youth and beauty get to do to them?"

The new stage adaptation of Wilde's 1890 novel has already enjoyed a successful run in Snook's native Australia, although a different actress played the leading role there.

The West End adaptation opens in London in early February and will run for nearly 12 weeks.

Snook recently hit the headlines when she revealed a film producer once told her not to eat a piece of chocolate cake early in her career.

Recalling the encounter, Snook said: "I'll eat whatever I want to, it's my own body, my own choices."

The actress said she was "too young and naive" to argue back at the time.

"And that's the unfortunate situation," she continued, "when there's a person in a position of authority and taking advantage, mindlessly saying something, it can be taken the wrong way and taken on in a certain context that holds with that person for the rest of their life potentially."

Earlier this month, Snook won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her performance in Succession, which concluded after its fourth season last year.