Mask of Tragedy (audio story)

Athens, 421 BC. An ancient civilisation of philosophers and poets and the birthplace of theatre. The Doctor has decided to show Ace and Hector how it all began, with help from the great comedian Aristophanes.

But life in Athens is no laughing matter. There’s the ever-present threat of invasion from the Spartan horde. The plague that turns people into the walking dead. The slavery. The tyrannical rule of the paranoid, malicious Cleon and his network of informers. And the giant flying beetle with knives for wings that stalks the city streets at night.

What Athens needs is a hero. And who better to be a hero in ancient Greece than a man called Hector?

Plot

Part one

to be added

Part two

to be added

Part three

to be added

Part four

to be added

Cast

The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Ace - Sophie Aldred
Hector Thomas - Philip Olivier
Aristophanes - Samuel West
Cleon - Alisdair Simpson
Tyrgius/Slave Trader/Boy - Russell Bentley
Telephus/Cisyphus/Old Man - Tim Treloar
Adonia/Lysistrata - Emily Tucker

References

Ace refers to Hollyoaks.
Ace describes the Time Lords as "the men in high collars".
The Doctor wears a toga. However, he still carries his umbrella.
Aristophanes is aware of the existence of time travel.
Athens has been at war with Sparta for many years.
Tyrgius mistakes Aristophanes for Euripides.
The Doctor previously visited Athens in the company of Melanie Bush, who corrected Euclid's geometry, much to his annoyance.
Ace refers to herself as "Germaine Greer".
The Doctor refers to Wham! and One Direction.
He says he's never seen a horror movie because he's never had the time.
Aristophanes and Cleon knew each other when they were children.
Tyrgius is a xenopsychosurgeon.
In 422 BC, Aristophanes wrote a play entitled The Wasps in which he mocked jurors, accusing them of being corrupt and in Cleon's pay.
The Doctor says he's lived 900 years.
Psychic overflow from the mask impinges on the troposphere, causing the sunrise to last longer.
After the Doctor changes history slightly, he comments that he will have to edit Wikipedia to reflect the change.

Textless cover art

Notes

This story was recorded at The Moat Studios.
Subscribers whose subscriptions included this story also received the audio short story Waiting For Gadot.

Continuity

The Doctor decided to take Ace and Hector to Athens in 421 BC after defeating the Swarm on the asteroid K4067 in the 52nd century. (AUDIO: Revenge of the Swarm)
During his first incarnation, the Doctor found Aristophanes and Eratosthenes arguing in a library in Egypt in the 4th century B.C.. (PROSE: The Book of Shadows) During his fourth incarnation, he and Leela met him at a gathering at Anaximander's house. (PROSE: The Brain of Socrates)
At some point prior to his seventh incarnation, the Doctor saved two of Aristophanes' plays from the burning of the Library of Alexandria in the 5th century. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Apocalypse)
Athens and Sparta are at war. (AUDIO: The Oracle of Delphi)
The Doctor uses a handful of metebelis crystals. (TV: Planet of the Spiders)
The Doctor says, "When I say 'run', run." (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)
Ace refers to her numerous encounters with evils from the dawn of time. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, The Curse of Fenric; AUDIO: The Magic Mousetrap, Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge, Protect and Survive, Black and White, Gods and Monsters)
She calls herself a killjoy. (TV: The Happiness Patrol)
The Doctor tells Aristophanes that Hector is still recovering from having been controlled by the Swarm in 4920 and the 52nd century. (AUDIO: Revenge of the Swarm)
The Doctor refers to Alexander the Great, whom he met in Babylon in May and June 323 BC during his first incarnation. (AUDIO: Farewell, Great Macedon)
Hector asks the Doctor to return him to Liverpool in the 2020s. (AUDIO: Signs and Wonders)

External links

Official Mask of Tragedy page at bigfinish.com