Theatre Reviews

Tradition holds that the Rape of Lucretia is the event separating the kings of Rome from the later Roman Republic. According to Livy, Lucretia personified “beauty and purity,” and exemplified the highest Roman standards, and while her husband was away at battle, she would stay home and pray for his safe return. In the meantime the last king of Rome sends his son Tarquinius on a military errand where he is warmly received in her house, yet in an appalling breach of hospitality, enters Lucretia’s bedroom and forces himself on her. My review in The Article.