A Most Sweet Poison
By (Author) John Goodwin
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Oberon Books Ltd
1st August 2006
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
822.92
Paperback
90
Width 130mm, Height 210mm
Based on the novel "Sappho" by Alphonse Daudet A play about sexual obsession. Set in nineteenth-century Paris and the French countryside, it centres on a passionate love affair between a young man and an older woman. The novel on which the play is loosely based was published in 1884, hugely popular in its day and notorious for its supposed immorality. The story - or an approximation to it - has been filmed in England (1922), in America (1931) and twice in France (1934 and 1970). It also gave rise to the libretto of an opera by Massenet.
John Goodwin is the author of the best-selling book A Short Guide to Shakespeare's Plays and editor, among other books, of Peter Hall's Diaries. He was the Head of the Press and Publication department at the National Theatre, as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company.