Imperium: The Cicero Plays

by Mike Poulton, Robert Harris (Contributor)

Cicero, the greatest orator of his age, devotes all his energy and cunning to preserve the rule of law, and defend Rome’s Republic against the predatory attacks of political rivals, discontented aristocrats, and would-be military dictators.

Imperium is a backstage view of Ancient Rome at its most bloody and brutal, told through the eyes of Tiro, Cicero’s loyal secretary.

Adapted by Mike Poulton from Robert Harris’s bestselling The Cicero Trilogy, it was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon in November 2017 in an epic event comprising six plays presented in two performances.

Genres: Plays, Fiction

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 16, 2017

Reviews

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is fine. It's a good history lesson—especially for folks who think about the Roman Empire a lot. But in the back of my brain I kept thinking this wanted to have contemporary relevance. I think it does. This is a play about the dangers of fascism and dictatorship, a play in praise of republican government. I guess what's strange about this is that "the people" are always the most easily swayed. "The people" really just do whatever the cleverest and best speaker asks them to do, and they almost always make decisions based on their own monetary gain. "The people" are fairly useless, in other words, and what they all really want is a badass military leader who will go abroad, conquer other nations, bring back wealth, and give some of it to them. Anyway, that's what this play has to say about republicans, dictators, and the vox populi.

As a play, Imperium moves excellently well. This is an exciting, well paced history lesson, with great dialogue, and lots and lots of stuff I didn't know about the last days of the Roman Republic. But I must say it left me rather cold, and I frequently would finish one of the plays and then take a long break before starting the next one. It took me about a month to read the whole thing through. I just kept picking up other things to read.

[Phoebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a play, I only wish I could see it performed

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw this live and it was such a brilliant experience that reading it just brings it all back