“devilishly good… I urge you to give it a listen” The Telegraph

Milton’s biblical masterpiece, first published in 1667, is one of English literature’s most seminal works. Straddling three worlds – Heaven, Hell and Earth – it tells the gripping story of fallen angel Satan’s rebellion against God, his temptation of Adam and Eve and their subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Written to ‘justify the ways of God to men’, it aimed to show what caused Mankind’s fall and the consequences for the world, both bad and good. By reaching back to the beginning of time, Milton hoped to discover the events that had led to the political and societal upheaval of his own era – as well as using allegory to ask powerful questions about authority, government, tyranny and disobedience. In this brand new dramatisation, Milton himself (Sir Ian McKellen) is the blind narrator grieving the loss of his wife, played by Frances Barber.

Also starring Simon Russell Beale as Satan, and adapted by award-winning poet and broadcaster Michael Symmons Roberts, this enthralling drama is a vital piece of storytelling with striking parallels to contemporary events.

Cast and credits

Milton????????Sir Ian McKellen
Elizabeth????????Frances Barber
Satan????????Simon Russell Beale
Beelzebub????????Jonathan Keeble
Adam????????Ashley Margolis
Eve????????Emily Pithon
Christ????????David Seddon
Raphael????????Conrad Nelson
God????????Russell Dixon
All other parts were played by members of the company

Written by John Milton
Dramatised by Michael Symmons Roberts
Produced and directed by Susan Roberts

Approx. 2.5 hours

In Paradise Lost Milton produced a poem of epic scale, conjuring up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranging across huge tracts of space and time. And yet, in putting a charismatic Satan and naked Adam and Eve at the centre of this story, he also created an intensely human tragedy on the Fall of Man. Written when Milton was in his fifties – blind, bitterly disappointed by the Restoration and briefly in danger of execution – Paradise Lost‘s apparent ambivalence towards authority has led to intense debate about whether it manages to ‘justify the ways of God to men’, or exposes the cruelty of Christianity.

John Milton (1608-1674) spent his early years in scholarly pursuit. In 1649 he took up the cause for the new Commonwealth, defending the English revolution both in English and Latin – and sacrificing his eyesight in the process. He risked his life by publishing The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth on the eve of the Restoration (1660). His great poems were published after this political defeat.

John Leonard is a Professor of English at the University of Western Ontario.

In his epic poem Paradise Lost Milton conjured up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos ranging across huge tracts of space and time. And yet, in putting a charismatic Satan and naked Adam and Eve at the centre of this story, he also created an intensely human tragedy on the Fall of Man. Written when Milton was in his fifties – blind, bitter and briefly in danger of execution – Paradise Lost‘s apparent ambivalence has led to intense debate about whether it manages to ‘justify the ways of God to men’ or exposes the cruelty of authority.

Edited with an introduction and notes by JOHN LEONARD