I'm quite a fan of modern adaptations of old classics. There's much to say about tried-and-tested methods that captivate readers and audiences for centuries, but it's also nice to smell the sweet breeze of change and newness that invigorates the sameness of the old. This is why I always like to see a modern re-branding of Milton's works, and my goodness are there some! A handful include: the stage adaptation of Paradise Lost by Ben Power, two upcoming film versions of Milton's major epic (one of them possibly appearing in 3D), and Mark Morris' dance production of L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed il Moderato.
However, trading on popular phrases derived from Milton, entirely out of context, such as "Paradise Lost" (who would be so uncouth as to coin Milton's "all hell broke loose" in a blog title, for example?) is rife, especially in film and theatre. A couple of my favourites are Taylor Hackford's 1997 The Devil's Advocate and John Stockwell's 2006 Paradise Lost. The former casts Al Pacino as the devil, aptly (or not-so-aptly) named John Milton, who hides behind the guise of a major US law firm director. The latter follows a group of American students whose trip to Brazil (Paradise) becomes soured after the group are drugged and subjected to the terrifying world of live back-street organ harvesting (Lost).
And now on to Abi Titmuss. My ears rightfully pricked up when I read the words "Paradise Lost" and "theatre" in the same sentence, but it only got better when I saw Abi Titmuss, locking lips with another lady in order to promote her new play. Rather than in any way relating to the poet's seventeenth-century epic, Paradise Lost follows six interconnected characters, wrapped up in secrets kept from each other, who spend an evening poring over a ouija board. Abi Titmuss plays a lesbian embarking on an adulterous relationship with a married woman, whose husband also happens to be present at this occult get-together. It's a far cry from the first chapters of Genesis depicted in Milton's Paradise Lost, but this new play opens up a wholly different aspect to the idea of adaptation, modernisation and change: does the modern audience remember Milton when they hear "Paradise Lost" - his words?
(I was quite distraught (perhaps too strong a word) to discover that I'd missed the boat on this one - Paradise Lost ran at the Leicester Square Theatre Basement from the 19th to the 23rd October.)
