Song of Rome

Spoleto Festival USA Review: Timely Ancient Drama

‘Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson’s ‘The Song of Rome’ offers a sophisticated modern spin on Virgil’s ‘Aeneid.’

By

Heidi Waleson

Wall Street Journal - May 29, 2024 3:11 pm ET

“The violence and hypocrisy of nation making is undeniable. Throughout history and myth it has been accomplished by rape, murder, and other chicanery, and these are delineated brilliantly in O’Hare’s and Peterson’s snappy and erudite script.”

Lynn Felder - Yes Weekly

“Deftly crafted and superbly acted, “The Song of Rome” metes out boatloads of history, but in a way that goes down remarkably easily. Time and again it illuminates how past and present inform one another, even if they don’t change outcomes.”

Maura Hogan - Charleston City Paper

“Under Ms. Peterson’s astute direction, the two excellent actors established their different characters and time periods—even when slipping seamlessly from one to the other, as when Virgil/Azem reads to Octavia/Sheree from the idiomatic Robert Fagles translation of Aeneas’s descent into the underworld. That moment, with its depiction of dead souls, and Octavia’s anguish on hearing it, is the crux of the play: It’s a graphic depiction of how the seductiveness of beautiful poetry leads readers and listeners to uncritically accept its premises, however false and dangerous they may be.”

Heidi Waleson - Wall Street Journal