Reviews

The Devil's Charter by Barnabe Barnes

bennought's review against another edition

4.0

Wonderfully bloody and twisted, this early Jacobean retelling of the story of the Borgia's rise and fall from power is a very fun read. The concept is that Roderigo Borgia signs a contract (charter) with the Devil to become Pope Alexander VI. The scene itself is complete with a contract signed in blood and demons dancing around the stage. If you can get through a few excessively long (and mostly unnecessary) monologues towards the beginning, the play settles into a fast-paced series of intrigues (and intrigues-within-intrigues), murders, incest, and sodomy which culminates in Roderigo being dragged down to Hell kicking and screaming by a pack of demons. The play certainly has its flaws (mostly being too long, as well as the aforementioned monologues), but it is genuinely funny and, above all, vastly entertaining. Does it cater a bit to the low brow blood and guts, nasty drama aspects of the crowd? Sure. But honestly, that's not always a bad thing. This is an easy crowd-pleaser which can help make Shakespeare-era drama accessible to a much wider audience. Plus, it's just a hell of a lot of fun.

gillothen's review against another edition

3.0

Justifiably little-known, though it does have its moments.

Read as part of the Shakespeare Institute's 2019 reading marathon, #websterthon