Imagine Freaky Friday featuring a classics professor and his student, but with less comedy and more epic. A Poem And A Mistake, performed by Sarah Baskin, examines Ovid’s Metamorphoses and its portrayal of women, gender and power. Told through the perspective of a master’s student outraged by her professor’s unsettling interpretations, the play questions the interpretation of violence in classical texts, with the professor asserting that Ovid depicts violence against women as originating from love and desire rather than from power or brutality. Following a twist of fate, the professor and his student swap bodies. The professor, now in his student’s body, is transported into Ovid’s world and must face the same treatment that he previously dismissed.

Intertwined with this imagined scenario are personal reflections as the student shares traumatic experiences and parallels them to Ovid’s depictions of gendered violence. The narrative is morally urgent and emotionally intense. Moving quickly from one scene to another, there is little opportunity for pause or reflection, as it appears the play is eager to convey its intended message. Minimal staging (a red rug, desk and chair) evokes an academic hall. Lighting, sound and pre-recorded segments enrich the atmosphere, but it is Baskin’s voice, expression and storytelling that carry the work as she embodies every character with commitment and passion. A Poem And A Mistake is riddled with easter eggs for lovers of classic literature and is a bold conversation starter, unafraid to confront uncomfortable truths. 

A Poem And A Mistake, Assembly Rooms, until 24 August, 12.40pm.