Mask of Tragedy
Mask of Tragedy
Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hector), Samuel West (Aristophanes), Alisdair Simpson (Cleon), Russell Bentley (Tyrgius/Slave Trader/Boy), Tim Treloar (Telephus, Cisyphus/Old Man), Emily Tucker (Adonia/Lysistrata)
Athens, 421 BC. An ancient civilisation of philosophers and poets and the birthplace of theatre. The Doctor has decided to show Ace and Hector how it all began, with help from the great comedian Aristophanes.
But life in Athens is no laughing matter. There’s the ever-present threat of invasion from the Spartan horde. The plague that turns people into the walking dead. The slavery. The tyrannical rule of the paranoid, malicious Cleon and his network of informers. And the giant flying beetle with knives for wings that stalks the city streets at night.
What Athens needs is a hero. And who better to be a hero in ancient Greece than a man called Hector?
Written by: James Goss
Directed by: Ken Bentley
coming soon
- Mask of Tragedy was the one hundred and ninetieth story in Big Finish’s monthly range.
- The Doctor decided to take Ace and Hector to Athens in 421 BC after defeating the Swarm on the asteroid K4067 in the 52nd century. (Revenge of the Swarm)
- During his
first incarnation, The Doctor found Aristophanes and Eratosthenes arguing in a library in Egypt in the 4th century B.C.. (The Book of Shadows) During his fourth incarnation, he and
- At some point prior to his seventh incarnation, The Doctor saved two of Aristophanes’ plays from the burning of the Library of Alexandria in the 5th century. (Timewyrm: Apocalypse)
- Athens and Sparta are at war. (The Oracle of Delphi)
- The Doctor uses a handful of metebelis crystals. (Planet of the Spiders)
- The Doctor says, “When I say ‘run’, run.” (The Tomb of the Cybermen)
- Ace refers to her numerous encounters with evils from the dawn of time. (The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, The Curse of Fenric, The Magic Mousetrap, Lurkers at Sunlight’s Edge, Protect and Survive, Black and White, Gods and Monsters) – She calls herself a killjoy. (The Happiness Patrol)
- Aristophanes is aware of the existence of time travel.
- Athens has been at war with Sparta for many years.
- Tyrgius mistakes Aristophanes for Euripides.
- The Doctor previously visited Athens in the company of Melanie Bush, who corrected Euclid’s geometry, much to his annoyance.
- Ace refers to herself as “Germaine Greer”.
- The Doctor refers to Wham! and One Directedition.
- He says he’s never seen a horror movie because he’s never had the time.
- Aristophanes and Cleon knew each other when they were children.
- Tyrgius is a xenopsychosurgeon.
- In 422 BC, Aristophanes wrote a play entitled The Wasps in which he mocked jurors, accusing them of being corrupt and in Cleon’s pay.
- At some point prior to his seventh incarnation, The Doctor saved two of Aristophanes’ plays from the burning of the Library of Alexandria in the 5th century. (Timewyrm: Apocalypse)
