The backstage of the opera "Salome."

"There are people that says that when Wilde chose the French language, the author of The Importance of Being Earnest wanted to challenge Flaubert and Mallarmé in their own area. In truth, Wilde was guiding himself by more pragmatic considerations: aspired to have the diva Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) as the protagonist of his play. (...) And Bernhardt, effectively, prepared herself for the premiere, in London - event cancelled by the British censorship based on an old law that forbade the representation of biblical characters on stage." (Perpetuo)