Total eclipse (Samuel French Ltd)

Christopher Hampton DramaCharacters: 10 male, 5 female, plus extras Various SetsRevised version. Total Eclipse is an intelligent look at the relationship between Rimbaud and Verlaine and shows considerable insight into the bourgeois and artistic societies of the period as well as a moving understanding of homosexuality. "The first six scenes develop the contrast between the two men...and their mutual need for each other as they move through and away from the literary life of the time and from Verlaine's wife and her family. A remarkable cafe dialogue with the two poets drunk and drugged subtly suggests the private, timeless world they built together and ends on a note of violence to show how fragile it was...A compelling evening in the theatre." - New Statesman