Much Ado About Nothing (1598/99): William Shakespeare

1 Comment

Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing

★★★½

(Shakespeare’s Globe, 2011)

This is the third production of Much Ado that I’ve seen in the last four months (note to self: be more adventurous). After the creative but unsuccessful version at the Old Vic, with its elderly Beatrice and Benedick, and the excellent modern adaptation by Joss Whedon, it was interesting to compare them to this more traditional interpretation. Jeremy Herrin’s 2011 production is one of the few performances filmed for the Globe’s DVD series, which I’ve mentioned before: like the two parts of Henry IV, which I watched recently, it was a real pleasure.

Continue reading →

Rupert of Hentzau (1898): Anthony Hope

4 Comments

★★★

It has been three years since the events of The Prisoner of Zenda and, although Black Michael has been defeated, a threat still hangs over the heads of our Ruritanian friends Colonel Sapt, Fritz von Tarlenheim, King Rudolf and the beautiful Queen Flavia. Michael’s nephew, the disgraced and devil-may-care scoundrel Rupert of Hentzau, is still at large somewhere in Europe. More to the point, he is one of the few people who knows about Rudolf Rassendyll’s impersonation of Rudolf I while the king was imprisoned at the castle of Zenda. Armed with this information, Rupert skulks in exile and waits for his chance to turn his knowledge to his advantage, but a greater secret soon falls into his lap.

Continue reading →

Eromenos (2011): Melanie McDonald

1 Comment

★★★

A novel of Antinous and Hadrian

I’m really having difficulty figuring out what I think of this book. It raises so many interesting questions in light of my recent reread of Yourcenar’s Memoirs of Hadrian. For one, it gives Antinous a voice of his own, which is fitting considering that his fictional existence, like his memory, has been dominated by Hadrian’s idealised gaze. On the other hand the tone of the writing is uneven and in many places it’s weighed down by a desire to show how much research has gone into this depiction of the Roman world. It is a striking, unsettling, flawed book but the way that it acknowledges and fences with Yourcenar’s all-conquering vision of these historical figures is quite fascinating.

Continue reading →

The Mapmaker’s Daughter (2014): Laurel Corona

1 Comment

★★★

Shortly after finishing In the Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali I was inspired to seek out other books about 15th-century Spain. I wanted to understand more about this period, in which the last shreds of the convivencia of Al-Andalus disappeared forever (if it had ever truly existed). In its place arose the orthodox Catholic Spanish state, with its Inquisition and its autos-da-fé. Laurel Corona’s novel offers a perspective which perfectly complements Ali’s: while he tells the story of Reconquista from a Muslim point of view, Corona looks at the experience of the Jewish people in Spain and Portugal at the same date. It was only at the end of the book that I came to realise how cleverly she has woven her protagonist into the history of two real and very distinguished Jewish families.

Continue reading →

Othello (c1603): William Shakespeare

1 Comment

Othello: Shakespeare

★★★

(directed by Rebekah Fortune, Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, until 8 February 2014)

Othello: because one dose of Jacobean treachery and murder per week just isn’t enough. In the aftermath of the Globe’s stunning Duchess of Malfi, I headed off to sample a spot of Shakespeare on the other side of town. Although I’ve lived in the area for more than three years, this was the first time I’d been to Riverside Studios and I feel suitably ashamed. But, when I spotted this new production of Othello advertised in the local paper, I just couldn’t resist. The 1940s film noir setting was a stroke of genius: the themes of ambition, corruption and sexual jealousy fit perfectly into that mould and it was such an ideal match that I’m surprised it hasn’t been done more frequently.

The Duchess of Malfi (1612-13): John Webster

7 Comments

The Duchess of Malfi: Webster

★★★★★

(Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe, until 16 February 2014)

I studied this at school and it has stuck in my mind ever since: indeed, it’s the kind of thing that’s hard to forget. The Duchess of Malfi was the historical Giovanna d’Aragona, traditionally – though no longer – thought to be the sitter in the gorgeous portrait by Giulio Romano in the Louvre. Widowed young, she falls in love with her overseer, the urbane but lowborn Antonio and marries him secretly. As the years pass, she has three children with him and savours the bliss of her married life, but their match remains a secret.

Continue reading →

The Last King of Lydia (2013): Tim Leach

3 Comments

★★★★

It is just before dawn one morning in 547 BC. The Lydian king Croesus is taken from a cell in his capital, Sardis, and led to a great wooden pyre where he is to be burned to death in the presence of his conqueror, the Persian king Cyrus. As the smoke begins to curl around him and the fire’s first heat warms the soles of his feet, Croesus remembers a conversation he had, many years before, with the Athenian statesman Solon. They had argued about happiness.

Continue reading →

Prince of Foxes (1947): Samuel Shellabarger

12 Comments

★★★★½

Shortly after I finished the excellent Blood & Beauty, this historical novel about Renaissance Italy popped up in my automatic recommendations. The author and title were both unfamiliar and, when I realised that it was again about the Borgias, I was tempted to pass: I had no plans to read another novel on the subject so soon. However, as the reviews were glowing, I persuaded myself to give it a chance; and I can honestly say that I’ve loved every minute of it.

Continue reading →

The Phoenix Guards (1991): Steven Brust

8 Comments

★★★★

The Khaavren Romances: Book I

Young Khaavren is a gentleman, a Tiassa, who has neither land nor titles but who dreams of making a glorious name for himself in the service of the Empire. Heading to the city in order to join the Emperor’s elite force of Phoenix Guards, he falls into company with three similarly ambitious young people: a proud, belligerent Dzur named Tazendra; a discreet, contemplative Lyorn called Aerich; and an elegant, chivalrous Yendi called Pel. When these four are sworn into the Red Boot Battalion of the Phoenix Guard, they become firm friends, sworn to protect the good of the Empire and, more importantly, one another.

Continue reading →