BOOKS Morality Play. Barry Unsworth (Penguin) It is a rare occasion when a writer comes up with a book that is educational, entertaining and scholarly. Add Barry Unsworth to the list that contains Umberto Eco, James Joyce and Julian Barnes.
Morality Play is not a long book, but in 188 pages it manages to transport the reader back in time to the plague and war-torn chaos of the late 14th century so convincingly that you can positively smell the pestilence and poverty.
Unsworth weaves the story around the adventures of a group of poor players.
In those days, theatre reproduced a small number of formula plays and the group, desperate for money, decide to throw the rule book away and put on a play about a murder that has occurred in the town where they are performing.
As the players research their roles, they gradually come to the conclusion that the woman accused of the murder is innocent.
Petrified by this discovery, they still find themselves going ahead with the play. But the muse takes their fear of retribution away from them and during the play they challenge the authority of the town and its lord.
