Romans In Britain

The director of the first production of The Romans in Britain goes on trial at the Old Bailey accused by Mrs Mary Whitehouse of 'procuring an act of gross indecency'. The act which he allegedly procured was simply that the actors of the National Theatre should perform the play, including a scene of homosexual rape by one of the invading Romans. The trial raises the most difficult questions of artistic integrity and theatrical license since the abolition of the Lord Chamberlain's censorship.

Of the play itself, Bernard Levin write in The Times: 'Conjuring up an era that is culturally as well as historically remote is a notoriously difficult task, but Mr. Brenton achieves it with great skill and effect... Of all the possible responses to the evening ahead that, before it began, I thought I might feel, the only one that never so much as flickered across my mind was the one that I actually experienced: The Romans in Britain is a very good play indeed.'

Here is the full text of the play as performed at the National Theatre, so that readers may make up their own minds about its merits.