THE PURITANS

John Hazlett strides boldly and confidently across the stage of the British government's religious intolerance against English Puritans before they sought refuge in the New World. Hazlett bellows like a bull as England's all-powerful Archbishop of Canterbury and uses a sneering Cockney as the weasel who trains Drew Morgan to spy in the households of God-fearing, God-serving Puritans. He is especially convincing as Matthew, a Puritan martyr whose use of the Geneva Bible, instead of the King James version, leads to his untimely death amid Laud's witch hunt. Hazlett's commendable performance is full of energy, sadness, and strength, as the criminal acts of so-called moral religious leaders are chronicled. M.D.H.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 04]