JUDE THE OBSCURE

Hardy's once scandalous work is performed as a mannered and sympathetic story of youthful ambition, confusion, and lust leading to a later life of same. Michael Pennington provides warmth and curiosity measured with severity as Jude, a manual laborer with aspirations of a life of scholarship, meanders through love affairs, each one more damaging than the last and culminating in a horrific final act typical of Hardy's harsh view of the world. The production preserves the aura of the story's time and place and maintains its antique voice and structure. D.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 04]