Stories Audio Drama The Ninth Doctor Adventures The Ninth Doctor Adventures Episode: 1 2 3 A Theatre of Cruelty 1 image Overview Characters How to Listen Reviews 2 Statistics Quotes Overview Released Saturday, February 17, 2024 Written by Lisa McMullin Runtime 60 minutes Time Travel Past Location (Potential Spoilers!) France 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. Listen Listened Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save Characters Ninth Doctor Antonin Artaud How to listen to A Theatre of Cruelty: Big Finish Audio The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Buried Threats Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 2 reviews 24 February 2025 · 208 words Review by dema1020 This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. A Theatre of Cruelty sees the Doctor confronted with the impossible - somebody knocking on the TARDIS door while it is in mid-flight. The takes the Doctor to Antonin Artaud, a french playwright struggling with nightmares. The Doctor goes on to visit and explore Artaud's dreams, investigating how Beatrice Cenci, a women who tragically died years ago, seems to be haunting Artaud. As far as stories go, in a lot of ways it is a pretty simple ghost story, but the dream angle adds a lot of flavour to A Theatre of Cruelty. So many scenes and sequences really have that sort of logic you only get in dreams - continuity and logic go out the window in such situations, but writer Lisa McMullin manages to give us enough of a concrete sense of rules and grounded scenes that it never felt like we had one foot completely out of reality. A good story needs rules. If anything can happen to characters at any time (like in a dream) - the stakes feel elusive and it's hard to get invested. That never really happened to me with A Theatre of Cruelty, which I found impressive on the whole. dema1020 View profile Like Liked 0 15 November 2024 · 38 words Review by Rock_Angel 1 I really struggled with this story mainly because I hated learning about the theatre of cruelty when I was in college so there’s that sort of disconnect there I also struggled with following the story too sadly Rock_Angel View profile Like Liked 1 Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating63 members 3.16 / 5 Member Statistics Listened 98 Favourited 2 Reviewed 2 Saved 5 Skipped 0 Owned 5 Quotes Add Quote Submit a Quote