Midas

The master of mythological retellings strikes again.

Mary Shelley’s ‘Midas’ (1922) is a mythological verse drama originally written for children. It is considered to be the romantic and lyrical counterpart to ‘Proserpine’ (1832).

The play tells the story of King Midas, whose touch turned everything to gold, and the musical competition between the Greek God’s, Apollo and Pan. The mighty King Midas must judge the winner of the contest but faces the wrath of a God for his decision.

Mary Shelley provided the blank verse while her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, wrote the lyrical poems. Their combined talents create a classic retelling of an ancient Greek myth. Fans of Madeline Miller's 'Circe', Jennifer Saint's 'Ariadne' will enjoy this master at work.

Mary Shelley (1797–1851) earned her place in the pantheon of British novelists with her ground-breaking Gothic novel ‘Frankenstein’ (1818). Considered one of the first true works of science-fiction, the book became an instant bestseller. But she was far from a one-hit-wonder, producing a host of other novels, including 'Valperga', 'Perkin Warbeck' and 'The Last Man'. Most were not well received in her lifetime, though, only being fully appreciated from the 1960s.

She moved in a circle of famed 19th-century writers and philosophers. She was married to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and spent time with Lord Byron. Her mother was the philosopher and feminist activist Mary Wollstonecraft and her father was the political philosopher William Godwin.

Mary Shelley’s work has been adapted for TV, stage and film on many occasions, with Boris Karloff famously playing Frankenstein’s monster on screen in 1933. Other adaptations include ‘Mary Shelley's Frankenstein’ (1994) starring Kenneth Branagh and Robert De Niro and ‘Viktor Frankenstein’ (2015) starring Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy. Most recently, Elle Fanning portrayed Mary in Haifaa Al-Mansour’s film ‘Mary Shelley’ from 2017.