This was a bit of a plodding book to get in to, but eventually the ‘spark hit the tinder’ for me. It’s set in 1744, London, and centers on famous theatre figures Peg Woffington and her manager and bosom friend Ignatius Sancho. Many other personages of the day also appear, such as David Garrick, arguably the most influential theatre figure in the 18th century.

(right click as needed)

The book is historical fiction, probably my very favorite genre in BD. The backstory is thus: women had recently been allowed to perform in theatre plays only a few years before (in the past, males played all roles). While Dubliner Peg is almost universally lauded, she chafes at the still-limited range of roles available to her.

Sancho then has the inspired idea for her to play a key female role from the lost play Cardenio, which was evidently Shakespeare’s attempt to write Cervantes’s Don Quixote(!) Only problem…? The play is indeed lost, and so begins a sort of detection-adventure in which Peg & Sancho race to find the play whilst others have the very same notion.

My knowledge of historical theatre is quite limited, but one thing’s for sure-- this was a dynamite premise, with all kinds of interesting settings and people involved. Unfortunately, as with various others of his work, I find that author/artist Jean Harambat waffles around at times and doesn’t quite ‘extract the juice’ from the fascinating premises that he builds. A bit of condensing would have helped here, and I also get the sense that his art is better suited to action than to thought/art pieces such as this.

https://www.bedetheque.com/media/Couvertures/Couv_375568.jpg

Now, the above is one I thought worked a little better, with the premise being right out of Agatha Christie’s playbook (think “Ten Little Indians”).

Eh, I don’t mean to removed and moan so much, but I guess it’s a case of wanting to fall in love with a person’s work due to their general style and piquant subject matter, yet never quite getting there. As for this particular book, it’s certainly not bad, but is probably the best match for history buffs, theatre buffs… something like that.

In any case, Harambat’s certainly worth keeping up with:
https://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-16727-BD-Harambat-Jean.html