Theodora is set in the years after Christ. It opens when Theodora is "five, as old as the new century... in the city of Constantine...". (Theordora p. 3)
I am a lover of Rome.
ALL things ancient Rome, I should say.
The sexuality, crassness, politics and sheer brilliance of that entire era fascinates me ...
I suppose that entire historical period, probably up to World War II will always be something of interest.
Theodora:Actress, Empress, Whore by Stella Duffy captured and delivered.
I was completely taken in on page 48 when Theodora and her sisters, Comito and Anastasia as we are driven deeper into the intricacies of the tale.
Immediately during my read, I was flipping back and forth learning what was really documented during that time involving Theodora and what Duffy wrote about.
It helped me to build a epic vision that sailed quite smoothly page after gritty, descriptive page.
Theodora tolerated abuse but as history tells us, much of that was normal for those times ... luck could go either way. We know that love, friendship, making a living, was all tempered by hardship and intrigue.
Luckily for us, Duffy displayed with such incredible craft, the streets, the smells and the dialogue of ancient Mediterranean so that we too were privy to what goes on in the lurid underworld of ancient entertainment and survival.
The actions so primitive yet so sophisticated and regal.
Duffy did a great job of taking us from one stage to the next....from the theatre to the theatre of life and beyond.
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