The Stage

Paradise Lost

Published Monday 15 May 2006 at 12:45 by Sheila Tracy

Transforming John Milton’s epic 17th-century poem into a play is no easy task and Ben Power has done it brilliantly.

From the opening crash of thunder, which comes as a shock to the system, the blending of sound and vision gives a terrifying dimension to the story of Satan’s expulsion from heaven and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden.

Jasper Britton as Satan, whose first appearance in a blood stained white suit surrounded by the other five members of the cast dressed in blood stained rags is horrific. It follows on from the play’s opening scene with Charles Aitken as The Son, linking the action throughout and appearing finally as the risen Christ with bleeding hands outstretched.

There are some powerful performances, not only from Britton and Aitken, the only two solo roles, but also from Caroline Faber as Sin and the angel Raphael. Her speech as the angel to Adam in the Garden of Eden, with so much light and shade, is riveting.

Christian Bradley and Vinette Robinson, who make their first appearance as Adam and Eve in Act 2, are completely nude and rightly so, one can not imagine the action working in any other way. Also Rupert Goold’s decision to have them dress in modern clothes after eating of the Tree of Knowledge gives even more emphasis to the tragedy of a lost paradise.

There is no holding back in this production and the audience remians spellbound from start to finish.