Live Performance of the Roman Tragedy 'Octavia'

The AWRC is proud to host a live performance of the Roman tragedy Octavia directed by Cluster member David Wiles. Octavia survived because it was thought to have been written by Seneca. Written a generation or so after Seneca’s death, the play attacks the brutality of Nero. A mixed student and community cast will present a half-hour version of this tragedy, performed in the translation of c.1561. This was a moment when it was no longer safe to perform biblical plays, and people were forced to turn to the classics in search of a new way of making theatre. The translation forges an exuberant rhetorical language in order to create some performative equivalence to the Latin, and the text does not seem to have had an airing in the last 450 years. Just as Nero discarded his first wife, so too did Henry VIII, and the fruit of his love match had come to the throne in 1558, so tackling this play was a bold choice. Nero’s argument for authoritarian rule retains its relevance today.



The performance of Octavia will be organised as one of our 'Lunch Table' events. Cluster members are invited to join David for lunch in Hall at 12.30. The performance, beginning at 1.15, is in the Buttery and will be catered with tea/coffee (all welcome).