_The Cenci_ - due by 26 September

The play this week, by Percy Bysshe Shelley, is our first tragedy. Shelley was traveling in Italy and stayed at the Colonna Palace, where this portrait of Beatrice Cenci by Guido Reni hung on the wall. Intrigued by the true story of Beatrice and her highly disordered family, Shelley wrote The Cenci, which he hoped would be produced. Set in Renaissance Italy, the play explores the questions of justice for women and patriarchal rule during the period.