Against Nature

In search of inspiration, Des Esseintes steps outside the luxury of his extraordinarily decorated rooms and goes for a walk on Portman Square. He discovers a tramp played by Adrian Dunbar on the park bench. Des Esseintes decides to initiate the tramp into the high-life of the London Dandy. Taking him to exclusive restaurants and bars where the tramp, unaccustomed to the rich excess, gorges and purges. As time goes by, Des Esseintes takes his protégé to be shaved and fitted for a fine suit by one of London's most famous professional Dandies, Robin Dutt who plays the tailor. Des Esseintes observes his protégé now fully transformed into a London dandy as he revels in each new debauchery from luxuriating in a Turkish bath to lording about with courtesans in a high class brothel. The brothel madam is played by the well known Mayfair dandizette, and author Tyne O'Connell who instructs her courtesans to fulfill the tramp's every sexual desire. O'Connell and Des Esseintes reach an understanding which enables him to study his protégé's debauchery through a peep hole. The tramp by now has become accustomed to the high life and soon begins to expect it and even see it as his due time goes on. In observing the tramp's journey to fully fledged dandy the author begins to write again and loses interest in his creation. In one sense, the status quo has been restored. The writer is writing and the tramp is once more back on the park bench in the elements. Only now of course he knows what he is missing.