Theatre review: Ben Duke delivers a profoundly moving performance in Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me), Lost Dog Dance, Firkin Crane, Cork Midsummer Festival

In Paradise Lost, Ben Duke takes Milton’s epic tale and gives it an ingenious modern-day makeover. Picture: Zoe Manders

★★★★☆

When, at the start of this one-man version of Paradise Lost, the performer Ben Duke asks who has read John Milton’s magnum opus, a few hands shoot straight up, while I am still frantically racking my brain for remnants of the poem from my Leaving Cert English studies. At the end, I am compelled to seek Milton’s epic work out again, a testament to the power of this funny, captivating and profoundly moving performance, presented by Dance Cork Firkin Crane and Cork Midsummer Festival.