To resolve the question they decide to spring a round of surprise home inspections. The soldiers debate who among them has the most virtuous wife. Prince Tarquin (Colin Smith), the King’s son, commands Collatinus’ unit, which includes Collatinus’ best friend Brutus (Parker Dixon) and Lucrece’s father, Lucretius (Robert Lavery).
![collatinus wife collatinus wife](https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/Tarquinius-Superbus_0.jpg)
Lucrece (Betty Rosen) is the wife of Collatinus (Theo Hadjimichael), a warrior in the service of the homicidal King Tarquin the Proud. To give the story a sense of forward motion, she put the poem in context. And the result is a brand spanking new Shakespearean play. Finally, Kimball had a matter of days (she ended up taking three) to complete her task. Aside from the rape and Lucrece’s consequent suicide, Shakespeare tells the story in exposition, not scene. Moreover, Lucrece is more poem than narrative in large part, it is a meditation on the psychology of the rapist and the agony of the victim. It is a bold writer who agrees to edit, supplement or otherwise manipulate The Bard. But this was a formidable challenge indeed. Kimball is a gifted writer and I wish that more of her works were in production. The Washington Shakespeare Company had originally planned to stage a production of King Lear, but when actor Brian Hemmingsen fell ill the Company substituted an even more interesting choice: it commissioned local playwright Callie Kimball to turn Shakespeare’s lengthy narrative poem, ‘The Rape of Lucrece’, into a play. Anderson & Abby Wood (Photo: Ray Gniewek) Produced by Washington Shakespeare Companyīetsy Rosen (foreground) and (l to r) Denman C.