The Roman Actor: A Tragedy

Book excerpt: The Roman Actor explores the balance between private and public moralities, effectively condemns tyranny, and defends plays, anatomizing both the theatre of power and the power of theatre. This new Revels Plays volume provides a modernized text with a thorough introduction that sets out Massinger's intervention in the political tensions of his own time and examines his clear-eyed portrayal of the pleasures and perils of performance. It also includes a detailed commentary on the play and an appendix discussing the play's textual history. It focuses on the play's theatrical life in its own time and ours, and gives a detailed stage history including an interview with Sir Antony Sher, who played the tyrannical Roman emperor, Domitian, in the Royal Shakespeare Company's acclaimed production in 2002.