' Sejanus His Fall' by Ben Jonson
A Lost Classic or 400 Year Old Flop? Readers of a certain age may remember Patrick Stewart's remarkable portrayal of Sejanus in the BBC television dramatisation of Robert Graves's I Claudius. Lucius Aelius Sejanus was a prefect of the Praetorian Guard during the reign of Tiberius. Famous for becoming the effective ruler of the Empire, whilst Tiberius sunk into a debauched old age and despondency, frequently absent from Rome. Sejanus tumbled from power during one single day in AD 31 and was delivered up to the mob over a week later. The whole affair became a subject for Ben Jonson's play Sejanus His Fall, a controversial and much neglected play, performed in 1...