“Until seeing this production, I had not realised the extent to which Shakespeare was able to imagine what it felt like to be a woman — bodily, that is, from within rather than merely from without.””

“Although Lucrece was written for the page, Elena Pellone’s work demonstrates that it can resonate with striking power in performance.”

Elena Pellone delivers a commanding performance embodying Lucrece, her servant, and Tarquin with intelligence and emotional depth. Her shifting perspectives illuminate Shakespeare’s poem anew, combining confidence with vulnerability. Extraordinary vocal and physical range conveys the devastating power of sexual violence and its lingering effects.

Lucrece is bodied forth as a truly tragic figure - personalised and idealised - and Pellone's depiction made me understand the poem more and want to return to it and re-read it.

Elena Pellone's compelling solo performance as Lucrece is the strongest argument I have ever encountered for the range, power and intelligence of Shakespeare's great narrative poem.