RSC Gunpowder Season – explosive Elizabethan and Jacobean dramas of dissent, staged by the RSC in 2005.

The Emperor Tiberius raises a statue to honour his right-hand man Sejanus, unaware that the man he's honouring is ruthlessly working his way to the top, destroying everyone in his path.

Ben Jonson's Sejanus: His Fall is a gripping tragedy from a writer better known for his comedies, first performed in 1603 with Burbage and Shakespeare in the cast (the latter's last recorded appearance as an actor).

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'A near-masterpiece... what truly exhilarates is the rediscovery of a play that shows Jonson's understanding of both the practical mechanics and insane corruption of power'