Dido, Queen of Carthage
by Christopher Marlowe
4 STARS 'The show's a serious pleasure.' Independent
4 STARS 'James Macdonald's fascinating revival.' Guardian
'An astonishing period-piece, illuminated by flashes of poetry as startling as Shakespeare's.' Evening Standard
Read more reviews.
Seeking refuge from a violent storm, Aeneas lands on the shores of Carthage where Queen Dido, moved by his retelling of the fall of Troy and bewitched by a malevolent Cupid, soon burns with love. Their ensuing passion, manipulated by the watching, warring gods, can only end in tragedy.
It is Aeneas’ frown that ends my days.
If he forsake me not, I never die;
For in his looks I see eternity,
And he’ll make me immortal with a kiss.
Written when he was an undergraduate, the wit, the daring and the sheer poetry of Christopher Marlowe’s first play were so new and exciting in English theatre that Hamlet was still talking about it seventeen years later.
Read about the play on Wikipedia
Captioned Performance 5 May 7.30pm
The Discover workpack for Dido, Queen of Carthage is now available. Contents include: A full synopsis of the play; Marlowe – the man and the mystery; a biography of the gods; the origins of the Trojan war; Vergil and the conception of The Aeneid; a timeline from Troy to Marlowe; production images, and more... click here to read it in full!
Dido, Queen of Carthage finished on: 2 June 2009
