The Rape of Lucrece

Synopsis

Shakespeare's tragic morality love poem was written around 1593 during a period when the theatres of London were closed due to plague. This is the story, originally told by Ovid and Livy of a woman's struggle between honour and life.

Our Review:

23 August 2012

Opening a stage adaptation of Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece this week of all weeks does feel like remarkably bad luck, just as the language and attitudes around rape have exploded into a furious public debate.

And, well, Shakespeare's gender politics date from 1594. And there's a difficulty with that, which has been carried over into the show.

I'd, perhaps unfairly, characterise it as an "RSC problem". That is to say, the RSC are incredibly good at clarity, and at getting Shakespeare's meaning across; at making everything the great man wrote absolutely crystal clear, even to an audience of early-modern novices. This is a great skill, and not one to be sniffed at. However, the flip-side of this is that it can often feel like naked endorsement, enforcement even, of Shakespeare's politics.

There's an extra issue here in that The Rape of Lucrece wasn't written for the stage, and has here been adapted as a song cycle...

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