Artistic Director Emma Rice’s inaugural winter season in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse opens with Comus, a warped and wonderful adaptation of the poem by John Milton.

Deep in the woods, a Lady is lost, exhausted and separated from her brothers. After encountering a mysterious stranger – Comus, the God of Revelry – who promises refuge, she finds herself trapped in a magical palace, unable to move from a cursed chair. Tempted by pleasure, torn between wantonness and virtue, the Lady enters a warped world of wonder and horror, where gender, sexuality and morality prove fluid and unpredictable.

Milton’s Comus twists the conventions of the masque, leading the audience on an unpredictable and volatile journey.

Lucy Bailey has previously directed memorable productions of Titus Andronicus, Macbeth and Timon of Athens at the Globe, as well as Fortune’s Fool at the Old Vic and The Winter’s Tale and The Taming Of The Shrew at the RSC.