The world premiere of Livia: A Roman Tragedy opened at The Flea on October 26. Baize Buzan plays the title role in Paul David Young’s new play, which has 16 performances in Tribeca through November 15.
The play is set in the last years of the Roman Empire. A vain, unstable ruler holds the throne, and anyone who speaks against him is banished or put to death. Livia’s lover has left the city to lead an armed revolt, and she is left behind to ask how the republic fell this far, and what one person can still do about it.
Young builds the script out of older Roman material. Lines and ideas from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Coriolanus sit beside borrowings from Corneille, Ibsen and Dürrenmatt, and from the philosophers Seneca, Cicero and Epictetus. The idea came out of a trip to Rome in 2022. “America appears to me as fragile as ancient Rome,” Young said.
Danilo Gambini directs. Gambini grew up in Brazil and said the play speaks to him as an immigrant artist: “Paul’s play asks a terrifyingly simple question: what do we do when the society around us appears to collapse?”
Buzan’s credits include To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway, and work with The New Group, Arena Stage and Steppenwolf. The design team is Jimmy Stubbs (sets and costumes), Nicole E. Lang (lighting) and Liam Bellman-Sharpe (sound).
Young’s earlier stage work includes Faust 3: The Turd Coming, or The Fart of the Deal, a 2017 Trump satire played by four clowns at Judson Church.
Performances are Thursday through Saturday and Monday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m., with no show on October 31 or November 7. The running time is 75 minutes with no intermission. The Flea is at 20 Thomas Street, and the room seats 75. Tickets are $40, or $20 for early-bird seats, fees included, and are sold through the production’s own website.
