Doctor Who: Mask of Tragedy

The Doctor tries to lift Hex's spirits by taking him to the opening night of a comedy play. The play in question is Aristophanes' Peace, which puts the opening night in Athens in 421 BC. While certainly no record, this is unusually far back by the standards of Doctor Who, although it has to be said that there is no real attempt at any sort of historical accuracy in this story.

In fact, much of it seems to be intended, like the Greek play that inspired it, as a comedy. There are a few laughs here and there, certainly, but, for the most part they fall flat. This, and the stylistic imitation of Ancient Greek theatre in some of the first part (Ace, for example, is the Chorus) mean that it initially drags a little and takes a while to get anywhere. Even the more serious sub-plot involving Ace fighting against Athenian mysogyny has little tension or dramatic heft.

Once things really do get underway, and the real threat reveals itself, the story does improve, as Athens spirals towards disaster. This would, however, doubtless have been better had the comedy been more effective, providing the counterpoint that Goss was presumably striving for. Instead, these elements make the setting feel implausible, rather than amusing, and leave one with the sense that there's actually quite a good story under here, struggling to get out, but which only really surfaces for between a quarter and a third of the play.

Comedy can be a struggle with Doctor Who, and it's a testament to BF's usual quality that their comedies tend to work more often than not. I found that this fell into the latter category, although it's by no means a complete flop, and a lot may depend on the listeners' sense of humour, or perhaps just their expectations - I think I was hoping for something a lot more faithful to history than Goss had any intention of providing, so for me, that let it down.

It's okay, but not great, and one hopes that this trilogy picks up with the last installment.