Quarter 1 Reviews- 014 Adaptation- New

014 Adaptation – New

I really enjoyed the radio adaptation of the anonymous Renaissance play Arden of Favesham based on a real-life murder case.  The acting was exceptional, particularly Amaka Okafor, who distinguished herself as a totally believable Alice, and Ben Crowe and Sion Pritchard as murderers Black Will and Shakebag respectively.  Alice has been married to land-owner Arden (Ewan Bailey) for some time.  She also has a lover, Mosby (Samuel James), whose sister is in Alice’s service (and becomes a bargaining chip between servant Michael and a frankly homicidal painter who can imprint poison strong enough to kill you if you even look at a painting!).  Alice and Mosby are determined to eliminate Arden, and when Arden robs his neighbor Greene (Simon Ludders) out of some land, the otherwise mild-mannered man now has a grudge—which Alice quickly turns to her advantage by claiming that her husband has abused her, and Greene comes to her rescue.  He’s the one who hires professional assassins Black Will and Shakebag to murder Arden when he visits London, but with almost comic ineptitude, they fail to kill him about three times.  What is also very interesting is to follow Alice’s, Mosby’s, and Arden’s various machinations, whereby they are able to convince themselves or each other of things they knew to be utterly false moments ago (much like Richard III).  The only disappointing thing was that, in true Renaissance morality play style, the murderers repented of their deed, seconds after Alice had stabbed her husband savagely herself.  I would have much preferred for the killers to get on with their lives and try to evade capture; nevertheless, the actors sold this sudden remorse for all it was worth.  I also liked the original score, which was not quite period correct but still very evocative.  Arden of Favesham was adapted and directed by Alison Hindell and also starred Tom Forrister, Philip Fox, Ryan Whittle, John Telfer, John Norton, and Olivia Marcus.