The Cadaver Palaver: A Bennett Cooper Sullivan Adventure
Tales of daring and adventure, with no shortage of excitement, are the order of the day for Bennett Cooper Sullivan. Moustachioed, mounted (on a camel, a mortuary slab, a friend), and making sense of strange goings on from Egypt to Edinburgh, via London’s East End.
Christopher Samuel Carroll presents Sullivan in his second story, his first from ten years ago, but the sequel is worth the wait. As if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne and Oscar Wilde collaborated on the script, its part detective mystery, part adventure at the edge of known science, and with more than enough comedy asides and sexual innuendo to warrant a second listen.
Carroll is certainly a brilliant storyteller – his accents and Lecoq-trained physical theatre carrying the narrative expertly across the world with the audience knowing where he is. Sure, the story is a little fantastic and in freefall off the ledge of believability, yet the audience is enthralled and eager to discover what happens next.
Whilst Carroll’s voice carries the story well, it’s an hour of one man, one voice, with only a few pauses to begin a new chapter – so in the beautiful surrounds of the two-level wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling library, the mind may wander, no matter how wonderful the descriptions of places, experiences and people.
But not for long: you won’t want to miss how Sullivan gets out of his latest bind (sometimes, quite literally), and Carroll does his best not to let that happen.
It’s a ripping yarn of Victorian adventure, and well worth an hour of your evening.
Review by Mark Wickett
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