Sappho and Phao
T1849497990
(1584). Venus gives lowly ferryman Phao the gift of beauty and (aided by Cupid) causes him and royal Sappho to fall in love. However, the social barriers remain, allowing Lyly to explore the tension between prohibition and desire. Vulcan, the prophetess Sybylla, a Cyclops and two young men (one a courtier and one a scholar), together with their impish pages, join the cast of this comedy played by boys at Court and at the Blackfriars. Combining astonishingly eloquent prose with an acute awareness of language's inherent ambiguities and limitations, the experience of how it actually feels to be profoundly in love is presented on the English stage for the very first time.
Archive :: production:T1849497990, play:S01002277698, venue:V01040860086
