Scan barcode
gillothen's review
3.0
Davenant was probably about twenty when he wrote this, but clearly a big fan of theatre for a long time. He was Shakespeare's god-son, occasionally claiming he might have been his illegitimate son; his parents ran a tavern in Oxford, on the route from Stratford to London.
It's not surprising, then, to see a lot of echoes of familiar plays in this rather gruesome story of rape and treachery. Motivation is a bit fuzzy, and the general determination that the raped woman must die to preserve her honour is depressing, though hardly unfamiliar from this period. Lots of people kneeling and lots of gore at the end. Set in Siena - the writer has a better grasp of Italian geography than Shakespeare, but rubbish history.
Read as part of the REP King's Men repertoire Zoom readathon in the slowly relaxing lockdown spring of 2021.
It's not surprising, then, to see a lot of echoes of familiar plays in this rather gruesome story of rape and treachery. Motivation is a bit fuzzy, and the general determination that the raped woman must die to preserve her honour is depressing, though hardly unfamiliar from this period. Lots of people kneeling and lots of gore at the end. Set in Siena - the writer has a better grasp of Italian geography than Shakespeare, but rubbish history.
Read as part of the REP King's Men repertoire Zoom readathon in the slowly relaxing lockdown spring of 2021.
More...