Buried Threats: A Theatre of Cruelty

"Let me help you."

Writer: Lisa McMullin

Format: Audio

Released: February 2024

Series: Ninth Doctor Adventures 11.01

Featuring: Ninth Doctor

Synopsis

Someone or something is manipulating the dreams of French playwright Antonin Artaud. As Artaud's nightmares are made manifest, the Doctor is compelled to intervene. Otherwise, Artaud's new idea for an immersive theatre could become a ticket to literally die for.

Verdict

A Theatre of Cruelty was was an excellent start to the Buried Threats eleventh series of Ninth Doctor Adventures! I’m still a little confused on the whole series numbering element of this range as I consider this to be the eleventh boxset and therefore eleventh series, but alas this is just semantics. The story itself was fantastic from start to finish! The concept of the TARDIS having a doorbell is very fun and starting with that being rung was good, especially considering the TARDIS was mid flight! That’s obviously impossible, so the ringer actually being Antonin Arnaut was somehow unexpected. The translation circuits being off was an extra intriguing element and I liked that he realised he was trapped in the wrong era. He was from 1935 but here he was in 1599 at the sight of an execution announcement for Beatrice who’d committed patricide. The quick alternative point of view of the Doctor’s mid flight conversation with Antonin and Bernice was fascinating because as far as they were concerned they were in Italy but the TARDIS was in the Vortex! It was exciting stuff. The play that Antonin was writing turning out to be about Beatrice was a nice twist and I loved that she wanted him to speak for her and tell her story. Writing a play is some way to go about that! The way reality and dreams blended and mixed for Antonin was really good and I was impressed with how well each was differentiated in the audio format. It’s easy to do on screen, but it worked well here despite the lack of visuals. The enigmatic nature of Beatrice was terrific and I liked that the Doctor could see her where almost everyone else couldn’t. Antonin’s desire for immersive theatre was a wonderful idea for him to create and I was impressed with his vision considering when he was from. I loved the idea of getting souvenirs from his dreams but the fact he had written a play involving executions meant those sometimes included the likes of an axe! And there wasn’t much time for preparation. The Doctor going back to 1601 to verify the portrait of Beatrice was great and it turned out to not be the one in the Louvre after all! That explained a lot as the image of what Antonin thought was Beatrice was what the Astraphi had taken. It was good logic and we soon learned more about them which was good. I was very interested in why they found the Doctor’s existence as a Time Lord funny and they came from before time. Their rarity in the universe was good and I liked the explanation behind the electrical shocks being mixed with Antonin’s imagination as a means to harness his darkness and intercept his frequency to give himself form. I loved how much the Doctor admired Antonin’s immersive performance idea but with the Astraphi involvement that could have been disastrous! The idea of invading dreams was fun stuff and took some of the Doctor’s Time Lord gifts to the extreme, but it was interesting stuff! The resolution requiring the Doctor to make Antonin feel good about himself was brilliant and he needed to tune them out. That warm fuzzy feeling of goodness was really good and quite nice! The Doctor was ruthless in demanding the Astraphi return to dust and turned everything they had devoured from Antonin to turn it back on them. It was impressive stuff! Overall, a fantastic listen. 

Rating: 9/10