The Clink

by Stephen Jeffreys

The Play

&

The Critics

In The Clink, Stephen Jeffreys seems to present a very pessimistic view of interhuman relations: everybody just acts in his or her own interest, and love and sacrifice seemingly don't exist. So it is most striking that eventually we are shown a relationship that we had considered finished long ago. Yet even here Jeffreys refractures his almost innocent images with irony.

Being a fool means a task for life - or is it just a job like any other? Lucius Bodkin "works" when he performs and seems to be a normal man at any other time - whatever that may mean in the twisted world of the play. So what has happened to the classical court jester? Where is the tradition of Lucius' father Hieronymus? And what is happening to Lucius himself'.?