Behn's high-nosed, thin-lipped and French-educated Oroonoko is essentially an idealised European prince in blackface, while the sighs and tremblings of the lovers and the wanton dalliance of the king have an air of cupids and harpsichords and peeping breasts.

ECONOMIST: Theatre at Stratford

The play darkens, naturally, for the Surinam act, but equally naturally it becomes predictable: the chain gangs, the brutal punishments, the odious English slave owners, though Mr Bandele keeps Behn's one good white, the Governor's agent Mr Trefry, to balance Orumba.

ECONOMIST: Theatre at Stratford