It’s no surprise that Roberto Aguirre-Sacassa writes comic books when he’s not writing plays. The Washington native draws on his dramatic sense of the forces of evil in his adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, now at Round House Theatre in Bethesda. The provocative play transplants Wilde’s characters from the late 18th century to 1980s London, but the scandalous, often shocking heart of the story remains.

As the play opens, struggling artist Basil Hallwood (Clinton Brandhagen) is delighted with the portrait he’s painted of his beautiful friend Dorian Gray (Roderick Hill). Basil’s friends are taken with the painting, too—especially Dorian, who’s so entranced that he makes a deal with fate, trading his soul for the eternal youth and beauty the picture captures. Dorian remains pristine, his appearance untouched by the passing years, while the portrait reflects his true soul. Poisoned by his vanity and immorality, Dorian forges a dizzying path of destruction, leaving everyone he loves shattered, including himself.

The dark material takes on the gritty depth it needs at the hands of a capable cast. Sean Dugan’s Harry Worton stands out as Dorian’s usual partner in crime—his cool smugness doesn’t miss a beat. Joel Reuben Ganz is memorable in dual roles as Harry and Dorian’s vulgar sidekick Alan Campbell and Sibyl Vane’s protective older brother James, balancing subtle character layers with raw, explosive emotion. Hill’s Dorian Gray isn’t especially riveting early on, but by the end he has grown deliciously disturbing.

The action builds under Blake Robison’s well-calculated direction. Some of the characters seem underdeveloped in the first act, but they’re subtly deepened by intermission, priming act two for its gut-wrenching intensity. Carefully timed musical choices—such as Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and other heart-pumping anthems—underscore scenes. The stark set of concrete and gray brick quietly embodies the show’s tension, endlessly cranking and turning like the gears of an intricate clock as time ticks by for everyone but Dorian.

Perhaps the production’s only misstep is the portrait itself. When the prop is unveiled near the beginning of the play, the supposedly hypnotic work of art looks more like a page from an Express Men catalog than the artistic expression of Dorian’s soul. The problem is remedied as the picture transforms, but with the painting serving as so vital a symbol, the original choice is distracting.

A warning: The play is for adult audiences and contains nudity, graphic language, drug use, and violence. But while this particular road to eternal youth and beauty is littered with jagged shards of glass, it certainly makes for a sharp production.

Show runs through October 4 at Round House Theatre Bethesda. Specially priced $10 and $15 tickets for patrons under age 30, other tickets priced from $25 to $60.