All Done With Mirrors

"I've always had a flair for the dramatic."

Writer: Christopher Bav
Format: Short Story
Released: March 2004
Printed in: Short Trips: Past Tense 03

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane

Synopsis

The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane visit the seventeenth century with the Time Lord mistaken for Christopher Marlowe. This is not the only case of hidden identity though... could it be that Marlowe is actually a great British playwright going by some Shakespearean name?

Verdict

All Done With Mirrors was a very decent continuation of the Past Tense Short Trips book! This was a good addition to the collection and there was just something great about the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane visiting the theatre in sixteenth century England. Their relationship was quite intriguing throughout with the latter often dismayed by the Doctor's whacky antics. I can often forget some of the differences between these two but I really enjoyed how the Doctor was acting unawares towards Sarah's discretions. He was mostly written very well with some more than decent characterisation. The use of the scarf to make it clear that this was the Doctor's fourth incarnation was good and I loved how the TARDIS ended up materialising during the middle of a play. The Doctor's reaction when Sarah Jane pondered whether he got the coordinates wrong was wonderful. I'm not a huge fan of classic English literature or plays, far from it if I'm honest, but I could fully appreciate how well that was utilised here and it definitely fits in very well with the theme of this book. The late sixteenth century was terrific and Sarah Jane's lack of bearings because of how different this London was to the one she knew was great. It was rather humorous. The Doctor getting mistaken for Christopher Marlowe was good and I liked how quickly he accepted the likeness, despite his comments in the TARDIS regarding their similarities. There was a lot of dialogue in this adventure which surprised me, but it was absolutely fine and I think it can help with the pace on times. It definitely made things flow and where there wasn't actually a huge deal going on, the conversation more than kept my interest. I thought a little more could have been made of Sarah Jane pretending to be a boy and I really think she'd have put up more of a fight in accepting that. Ned Alleyn was an interesting character, although I wasn't too sure he'd have allowed the Doctor to sit in Kit's seat and basically act as if he was him. That was a weird little section of the story. Things certainly got more interesting when Marlowe arrived and the Doctor's reaction when he was confronted by the very man he was impersonating was probably the highlight of the adventure. A great little moment and I could just perfectly picture Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor in that moment. It would have worked so well. The story covering the mysterious death of Christopher Marlowe was intriguing, even if I didn't know much at all about the history it covered, but the moment where it was revealed that Marlowe was actually Shakespeare was an unexpected feature. I liked it a lot. I'm not sure he should have left him the copy of Shakespeare's complete works though! I guess the Fourth Doctor can get away with that though. Sarah's reaction to that was very good too. Overall, a decent little adventure despite there not actually being much at all going on. I think that's testament to the writing of the dialogue! A very well done little story.

Rating: 7/10