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Paradise Lost
“The biggest mistake any of us could make would be to underestimate Satan.”
The seventeenth century and present day are seamlessly intertwined as Satan vents to an audience about her frustration at being cast out of Heaven and her thoughts on oppression. When she finds out that God has created delicate new creatures called “humans,” she crafts a plan for revenge and betrayal on the Almighty.
Erin Shields turns Heaven and Hell upside down in this witty, modern, feminist retelling of John Milton’s epic poem about the first battle between good and evil. Shields’s wickedly smart and funny script questions the reasons of the universe, the slow process of evolution and the freedom of knowledge. The debate over right and wrong has never been so satisfying.
The seventeenth century and present day are seamlessly intertwined as Satan vents to an audience about her frustration at being cast out of Heaven and her thoughts on oppression. When she finds out that God has created delicate new creatures called “humans,” she crafts a plan for revenge and betrayal on the Almighty.
Erin Shields turns Heaven and Hell upside down in this witty, modern, feminist retelling of John Milton’s epic poem about the first battle between good and evil. Shields’s wickedly smart and funny script questions the reasons of the universe, the slow process of evolution and the freedom of knowledge. The debate over right and wrong has never been so satisfying.
168 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2018
8 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 25, 2020
I really wish that I could see Erin Shield's Paradise Lost on-stage because I think that I would feel stronger about it one way or the other. Right now I feel mostly indifference, and that makes me a little sad.
My son and I had hoped to see it the year it came out in Stratford, being huge fans of actor Lucy Peacock who played Satan in the original staging of the play, but it was sold out, and we ended up watching To Kill a Mockingbird instead (not a bad trade-off, to be sure). The play was in the Stratford giftshop on our way out, though, so I thought it would be worth reading all the same.
It is worth reading. I've done so twice now. This second reading, however, was an attempt to see if my feelings about Shields' political stance had changed, to see if I had misread her the first time, to see if my biases as an atheist and lover of Milton were getting in the way. Sadly, I am still unsure. I feel like Shields is asking us ... specifically asking women ... why they worship at the altar of a patriarchal god, yet she seems to simultaneously creating a justification for worshipping at that altar. I often love muddy, brown rivers, but this time the clarity of a creek might please me more.
There are some excellent monologues, particularly those of Satan, and there are some really beautiful scenes between Adam and Eve that nearly come to life on the page, but all the rich bits are balanced by poor bits that feel uneven and ill conceived. I fear that not seeing Paradise Lost on its feet makes it difficult to be fair about those moments, however. Maybe on-stage, under the lights, it all becomes more.
I want to love this or hate this, not sigh as I close the cover and wish I had read Milton instead.
My son and I had hoped to see it the year it came out in Stratford, being huge fans of actor Lucy Peacock who played Satan in the original staging of the play, but it was sold out, and we ended up watching To Kill a Mockingbird instead (not a bad trade-off, to be sure). The play was in the Stratford giftshop on our way out, though, so I thought it would be worth reading all the same.
It is worth reading. I've done so twice now. This second reading, however, was an attempt to see if my feelings about Shields' political stance had changed, to see if I had misread her the first time, to see if my biases as an atheist and lover of Milton were getting in the way. Sadly, I am still unsure. I feel like Shields is asking us ... specifically asking women ... why they worship at the altar of a patriarchal god, yet she seems to simultaneously creating a justification for worshipping at that altar. I often love muddy, brown rivers, but this time the clarity of a creek might please me more.
There are some excellent monologues, particularly those of Satan, and there are some really beautiful scenes between Adam and Eve that nearly come to life on the page, but all the rich bits are balanced by poor bits that feel uneven and ill conceived. I fear that not seeing Paradise Lost on its feet makes it difficult to be fair about those moments, however. Maybe on-stage, under the lights, it all becomes more.
I want to love this or hate this, not sigh as I close the cover and wish I had read Milton instead.
March 17, 2024
there are a few parts of this play that feel slightly contrived/too on-the-nose, but holy fucking shit, dude. genius aspects of erin shields' adaptation of paradise lost:
- satan is a woman. and a MILF if you ask me
- adam & eve are represented pre-fall as speaking only in third person with no capitals or punctuation;
- raphael's story of the war in heaven is told as the world's first amateur theater production
- satan and gabriel flirt
- the ending conversation between god and satan.
- SATAN'S FUCKING SPEECH ABOUT THE UNPAYABLE DEBT OF BEING LOVED BY GOD
- Did I Mention Satan Is A MILF. i'm so in love with her and i need to play her soooooo bad will somebody PLEASE let me act in this PLEASE
- satan is a woman. and a MILF if you ask me
- adam & eve are represented pre-fall as speaking only in third person with no capitals or punctuation;
- raphael's story of the war in heaven is told as the world's first amateur theater production
- satan and gabriel flirt
- the ending conversation between god and satan.
- SATAN'S FUCKING SPEECH ABOUT THE UNPAYABLE DEBT OF BEING LOVED BY GOD
- Did I Mention Satan Is A MILF. i'm so in love with her and i need to play her soooooo bad will somebody PLEASE let me act in this PLEASE
January 3, 2025
This was crazy but I loved it. I saw the play first many years ago and then I fell in love with one of the actors for months but it wasn’t reciprocated haha. But so yeah it’s great if you’re into modern retelling of old myths. Always fun to see how much of our beliefs about humanity are based on weird old stories.
February 8, 2022
An invisible debt is rising.
A debt you know you can never repay.
A debt which imprisons you in a state of eternal gratitude.
This is how it feels to be loved by God.
[looks at satan] kind of a milf, reblog. GOD this play slaps though. it's a fun and subversive take on paradise lost that's surprisingly funny but also had moments that made me want to scream at the top of my lungs. satan is in fact sexy but also evil in a way that feels very relevant and the take on adam and eve as more equal before the fall is so interesting. and what shields does with adam and eve's language. MAN.
A debt you know you can never repay.
A debt which imprisons you in a state of eternal gratitude.
This is how it feels to be loved by God.
[looks at satan] kind of a milf, reblog. GOD this play slaps though. it's a fun and subversive take on paradise lost that's surprisingly funny but also had moments that made me want to scream at the top of my lungs. satan is in fact sexy but also evil in a way that feels very relevant and the take on adam and eve as more equal before the fall is so interesting. and what shields does with adam and eve's language. MAN.
January 21, 2024
Fascinating! Wasn’t initially super interested but got drawn in throughout. I love its both an ode to the classical era but still very much a modern play. Not a huge fan of the original Paradise Lost, so colour me surprised to be liking this version. Some great insight and ambiguity throughout. Pretty good.
April 11, 2024
Something about Shields' feminist reworkings of classic texts always feels slightly condescending to me! Otherwise, a really fun and provocative revision of Milton
January 19, 2020
This is the second Erin Shields play I've read, and they've both been really good. Shields gives a really good take on Milton's complex approach to ethics in the story of Satan's fall and humanity's expulsion from Eden, definitely doing justice to the complex theological issues Milton raises (and sometimes kind of obfuscates because his religious faith more or less requires accepting that God ultimately is good). At the same time, Shields goes beyond the questions that Milton raises, particularly to challenge the gender norms, roles, and binary oppositions that he accepts as fundamental. One of the biggest elements of Shields' version is that the boundaries between identities are not starkly defined--especially between Adam and Eve, but also between some of the angels. The original performance run also cast female actors for many of the major roles, including Satan, which is definitely an important performance choice because it does raise questions about the predominance of men in Biblical representations of heaven/angels.
July 12, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. It is a book that was written to make you think. I think that it described a lot of how I feel on religious topics and it is very interesting to see these point of views in the story. I 100% recommend this book.
July 26, 2018
So good, you guys.
May 28, 2019
A fun retelling of the story of the fall of man following the battle of Heaven and Hell.
January 26, 2020
I didn't read this, I saw it performed at the Centaur Theater in Montreal. It was amazing.
November 1, 2023
I'd really love an opportunity to produce this play. An excellent blend of old meets new. Amazing opportunities for actors and designers alike.
February 8, 2024
Such a clever reinterpretation of Milton's original and a damn good play to boot.
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March 3, 2024
girlboss satan . this play is like if good omens was on pinterest
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December 4, 2024Can’t wait to play eve in january 🤸🤸🤸🤸
January 10, 2025
Did nottttt expect this! It would be a good play to see. As an atheist I enjoyed this. Satan was the best character ngl, she girlbossed hardddd
March 23, 2025
i don’t normally rate plays but yeah this is five stars
October 29, 2020
This is a theatrical adaptation of John Milton’s Paradise Lost by Canadian author Erin Shields. The play was originally performed at the Stratford Festival in 2018, then was reprised in Montreal at the Centaur Theatre in early 2020. (I was lucky enough to see the Montreal production.)
The play tells the story of Satan’s fall from Heaven, and her subsequent planned revenge against God via the corruption of his latest creation, humans. Satan therefore escapes Hell and makes her way to the Garden, where she evades her former angel comrades and convinces Eve to eat a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This results in Eve, and her partner Adam, being forced out of the Garden in punishment.
It’s a well-known story, Milton’s version is a Classic and even if you have never read it (it is still on my TBR list), living in the West it is so intricately woven into the culture that it is known almost by osmosis. The twist in Shield’s version is that Satan is a woman who is rebelling against the original Patriarch, God Himself, which gives the play a feminist bend. The story is also modernized, so that it references recent and not-so-recent events, from wars and genocides to climate change. Satan portrays herself as a revolutionary, fighting back against an autocratic ruler and Shields makes her point of view compelling while never fully redeeming the fallen angel.
This is truly Satan’s show, but the other characters are complex as well. God is particularly interesting as his all-knowingness comes off as cruel, but it paradoxically makes him a tragic figure. He keeps repeating “I know” or “I knew”, revealing that he has seen every outcome before he made a single move. Yet he does exactly as he intended anyway, even when fully aware off the painful consequences of his actions on others and himself.
Adam and Eve are innocents, awed by the new world they inhabit, and by each other. Eve is the most interesting character of the pair, and kind of a feminist herself. Even before she meets Satan and tastes the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, Eve tries to challenge patriarchal gender roles by countering Adam’s praise of her “beauty” and “charm” by insisting that she is also possessed of “intelligence” and “courage”, just as he is. She further questions his statement that she was made from his rib to be his companion by insisting that she was made from mud just as he was, and that maybe he was made to be her companion. When they are being escorted from the Garden and told of their punishment, she asks Adam “Is it me, or did my punishment seem disproportionate to yours?” (Spoiler alert: it is!)
Erin Shields’ take on Paradise Lost is moving and thought-provoking. As a play, it provides a great role for an older actress as Satan, which is too rare, and another great role for a younger actress as Eve. As a play text, it is a quick read, the stage directions make it easy to follow the action even without the visuals. It is well worth reading both as a retelling of a Classic work and as a commentary on our world. It is also a quick read if you, like me, are a bit behind on your Goodreads reading challenge for this year.
Read my blog here: https://fictitiousthreads.wordpress.com
The play tells the story of Satan’s fall from Heaven, and her subsequent planned revenge against God via the corruption of his latest creation, humans. Satan therefore escapes Hell and makes her way to the Garden, where she evades her former angel comrades and convinces Eve to eat a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This results in Eve, and her partner Adam, being forced out of the Garden in punishment.
It’s a well-known story, Milton’s version is a Classic and even if you have never read it (it is still on my TBR list), living in the West it is so intricately woven into the culture that it is known almost by osmosis. The twist in Shield’s version is that Satan is a woman who is rebelling against the original Patriarch, God Himself, which gives the play a feminist bend. The story is also modernized, so that it references recent and not-so-recent events, from wars and genocides to climate change. Satan portrays herself as a revolutionary, fighting back against an autocratic ruler and Shields makes her point of view compelling while never fully redeeming the fallen angel.
This is truly Satan’s show, but the other characters are complex as well. God is particularly interesting as his all-knowingness comes off as cruel, but it paradoxically makes him a tragic figure. He keeps repeating “I know” or “I knew”, revealing that he has seen every outcome before he made a single move. Yet he does exactly as he intended anyway, even when fully aware off the painful consequences of his actions on others and himself.
Adam and Eve are innocents, awed by the new world they inhabit, and by each other. Eve is the most interesting character of the pair, and kind of a feminist herself. Even before she meets Satan and tastes the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, Eve tries to challenge patriarchal gender roles by countering Adam’s praise of her “beauty” and “charm” by insisting that she is also possessed of “intelligence” and “courage”, just as he is. She further questions his statement that she was made from his rib to be his companion by insisting that she was made from mud just as he was, and that maybe he was made to be her companion. When they are being escorted from the Garden and told of their punishment, she asks Adam “Is it me, or did my punishment seem disproportionate to yours?” (Spoiler alert: it is!)
Erin Shields’ take on Paradise Lost is moving and thought-provoking. As a play, it provides a great role for an older actress as Satan, which is too rare, and another great role for a younger actress as Eve. As a play text, it is a quick read, the stage directions make it easy to follow the action even without the visuals. It is well worth reading both as a retelling of a Classic work and as a commentary on our world. It is also a quick read if you, like me, are a bit behind on your Goodreads reading challenge for this year.
Read my blog here: https://fictitiousthreads.wordpress.com
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews