CATHERINE STEEL relishes a compelling novel about Augustus’s right hand man, but misses the politics, the cultural shifts, and more detail about his restoration of Rome
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Simplistic sense of a seasonal spirit
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The Passing of the Third Floor Back
Finborough Theatre, London
THE FINBOROUGH’S commitment to finding and performing forgotten plays means that they often unearth some gems. But whether that’s true of Jerome K Jerome’s The Passing of the Third Floor Back is up for debate.
The time is Christmas 1907 and the place is landlady Mrs Sharpe’s boarding house and it’s not a pleasant place to be. The guests, caustic and cruel, are all trying to con or trick each other, either to profit financially or simply for their own entertainment.
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