Nigel Patten

Byron: A Play in Three Acts Nigel Patten

In 1823, Lord Byron rented the Casa Saluzzo at Albaro in the hills east of Genoa, Italy. The poet shared the 16th-century palazzo with his mistress, Teresa Giuccioli, her brother, and their exiled father, Count Gamba.

His neighbors were Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, whose poet husband had recently drowned; Leigh Hunt, the critic and editor; and Edward Trelawney, a Cornish adventurer and close friend of both poets.

A frequent visitor that summer was Lady Marguerite Blessington, who kept detailed notes of their many conversations. From these conversations, an intimate insight is gained into Byron's personality, philosophy, mental state, opinion of himself, and the impression he made on others and society.

The complexity of Byron's character is revealed, as well as his phobias and rejection by English society for the scandals attached to his numerous amorous activities.

This three-act play paints the portrait of a tormented man, obsessed with his congenital lameness and a pressing sense of solitude, despite or because of his numerous affairs with married women in his elusive quest for love.

(About the Author)

Nigel Patten was born near London in 1940, and has lived in Switzerland since 1961, where he taught English at a French high school. He has published 12 books, including historical novels, a biography, an English course for French speakers, and a play on the last weeks of the poet Shelley's life. A two-time Reader's Favorite Award winner, the author travelled in a motorhome to India, and for 15 years sailed his sailboat between the Greek islands. Having reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro twice, he still hikes mountains. An actor and director, he was part of an amateur theatre troupe in Vevey for 40 years.