The Revenger's Tragedy ~ Being a Review Thereof

Something is wrong. Things aren't the way they used to be. We are ruled by corrupt, power-seeking men. Justice has been banished, truth bought off, the fix is in for those with inherited wealth, power and influence. The innocent suffer and die while the evil live large. This is the world of Jacobean theatre, a series of grim, dark plays populated with revengers, double-crossers, a wide variety of wickedness, vice and obsession, where wealth and power are corrupting and the good die young ... they're the lucky ones.

Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy has been wonderfully updated by Alex Cox, set not in 17th Italy, but in Liverpool a few years down the road, 2011. These radical updatings can either be excellent or dreadful ... Sir Ian McKellan's version of Richard III set in the 1930s made perfect sense, while Titus, with Sir Antony Hopkins, had a truly wierd mix of ancient Rome, the 1930s and a dose of post punk which made everything look odd and out of place. Cox's Revenger's Tragedy mixes enough elements of the past, the present and the near future and a dose of multi-culturalism to make it at once familiar and alien.

The story is filled with plots and double crosses, jealousy, envy, incest, lust, murder and hypocrisy as Vindici, his brother and sister set about to bring down the Duke and his corrupt family. And what can you say about a play that starts off with the protagonist carrying around his wife's skull and ranting about exacting his revenge on her murderer, the Duke? The performances are all excellent from Christopher Eccleston's vengeful Vindici, Eddie Izzard's unscrupulous Lussurio to Derek Jacobi's corrupt Duke. Chumbawumba's moody score fills out the program nicely.

The disc is filled with nifty extras including a 30 minute documentary with the principle cast and production team which is at once informative, interesting and doesn't bog down in repetitiveness and self-indulgence.

Well worth you time, Jack!