I’m struggling to understand why a playwright of the calibre of Timberlake Wertenbaker chose to translate and adapt this Racine play, and why the Lyric have decided to revive what seems to me to be a turgid 17th Century take on Roman history, with a very static staging that I’m afraid I found very dull.
It concerns the competition between the sons of Emperor Claudius, the infamous Nero – his possessive mother Agrippina, the emperor’s fourth wife, fighting his corner – and the less well known Britannicus, son of the emperor’s third wife Messalina. Britannicus is the heir apparent, but Nero seeks to usurp him and to steal his fiancee Junia.
On a relatively bare stage, it feels like a rehearsed reading at times and rarely comes alive dramatically. The performances are all excellent – it was particularly good to see William Robinson (Nero) shine again after his recent performance in Bacon at the Finborough – but its the play itself and the staging that fails to animate the story. A disappointment, I’m afraid.
Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog 
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