Jonas Penrose has been a performer at the Globe Theatre in London since he first arrived as a boy player to take the roles of women in the days of William Shakespeare. Those parts are now long behind him and he wants to see his own plays performed on the stage. As a fresh bout of Plague forces the theatre to close, Jonas becomes caught up in a political intrigue every bit as dangerous as the disease that once left him an orphan. In fear of his life, and charged with carrying a secret government letter, he travels to Ireland in the hope that there one of his plays may be performed in public for the first time - if only he can survive to see it.

アンガス・クーパーが描く本作は、演劇の熱狂と死の影が交錯する十七世紀を舞台にした、魂の解放の物語です。女形という虚構の役割から脱し、自らの言葉を紡ごうとするジョナスの執念は、表現者としての根源的な渇望を浮き彫りにします。政治の荒波に揉まれながらも、劇作という光を追い求める彼の姿は、あまりに危うく、そして美しい。 映像版が持つ視覚的な躍動感に対し、原作は沈黙や思索の深みが際立ちます。逃亡の道中で研ぎ澄まされる主人公の内面は、テキストならではの濃密な没入感を与えてくれるでしょう。スクリーンで描かれた華やかさと、文学的な芳醇さが共鳴し合い、物語の真髄をより多層的に味わえるはずです。