1 min read
I couldn't agree more with Sam Marlowe's review of In Extremis, Howard Brenton’s reimagining of the 12th-century historical love story of Abelard and Heloise, which has just been revived at the Globe:
The fervent spiritual and fleshly connection of Oliver Boot and Sally Bretton as the lovers is wildly, irresistibly sexy. But no less involving is their clash with Bernard of Clairvaux (Jack Laskey), the Cistercian abbot who sees their espousal of the theories of Aristotle and Plato as highly dangerous. A thrilling debate ensues, in which fundamentalism is pitched against rationality and the true meanings of love and faith are reconsidered.
Dove’s production and Brenton’s writing swing between the shamelessly broad and the intricate, and anywhere else they might at times look crude. On a warm night at the Globe, under an open sky, the treatment seems perfectly apt: cheeky, robust, yet tough-minded too.