Kipper Tie
My Dearest Byron
by Bernie C Byrnes
In the early 1800s Augusta Mary Byron almost certainly had an incestuous relationship with her half-brother, the sixth Lord Byron. In 1816 Lord Byron left England. The 14th of April that year was the last time they met.
My Dearest Byron is a fictional account of the meeting that parted them forever.
The project incorporates the contents of the letters between Byron and Augusta to form the set, inform the action and feature as the artefact supporting the dialogue. The intimate letters and diary entries of the two lovers are brought to life by acclaimed experimental theatre company Another Midas, who have a history of reincarnating literary classics through highly-stylised physical theatre. The play is not intended to be biographical but is an illustration of the passionate and dangerous relationship that almost ruined them both. My Dearest Byron seeks not to make the letters 'flesh', but rather to make them feature as characters in their own right.
From the wholehearted welcome, the choice of venue and the direct audience addresses, it was clear that My Dearest Byron was to be as self-indulgent and irreverent as the man was himself...
The actors recount the scandalous love affair between Lord Byron and his long estranged sister Augusta. Both acquit themselves admirably, both with the convoluted dialogue and the physical sections, where the sex is played out in the form of a ballet...
The work was constructed upon the basis of surviving love letters between the two, giving an authenticity to it that otherwise might have gone astray, and the inclusion of Byron's poetic rhythms only add to the decadent sweetness of the tale.
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British Theatre Guide