Review by Cavan Gilbey

Every so often we’ll get a Torchwood release where we get to explore some hitherto unknown department or station. Sometimes this works really damn well, such was the case with Double or the Torchwood Soho range, other times it can turn out fairly lacklustre like Dollhouse (which should work so well given it’s tone and concept) or The Dying Room. So I had no idea what to expect when heading in to Ash Darby’s latest script, especially since I have found them to be a relatively inconsistent writer; however they always have some amazing concepts and I sang the praises of Sigil when I reviewed it a while ago. Art Decadence was not the story that I was expecting, and I mean that as high praise.

Sir Reggie may seem like your usual chinless wonder aristocrat, but he’s secretly a top Torchwood agent. Aided by his trusty butler Forster, the pair have wormed their way out of plenty of scrapes just in time for lunch. But Sir Reggie has taken a keen interest in a newly opened gentleman’s club called The Serpentine Club, and after one visit he seems to be a changed man.

Now the inclusion of The Mara is no secret, it’s plastered all over the advertising, but I’ve always thought it is quite a hard villain to do on audio because it needs quite a surreal mind-scape setting at points to really work and that’s very hard to achieve as a soundscape. Previous Mara audio Cradle of the Snake didn’t do much for me so I was naturally concerned heading in to this, but Darby does a good job at finding a way to make the villain work. Darby focuses on the Mara’s ability to manipulate and control, to heighten the worst aspects of people and manifest them as it takes control of a victim’s body and mind. There’s a real sense of how intelligent the Mara is here, using emotional manipulation effectively to keep Forster trapped in a prison of his own guilt as he watches his master suffer under the control of the Mara.

The story is essentially a two hander between actors Simon Kane as Forster and Wilf Scolding as Reggie/The Mara. Both offer outstanding performances if you ask me. Kane manages to depict this slow mental breakdown with suitable amounts of pain and tortured guilt, playing moments of Forster reckoning with the situation with strained poise. Whereas Scolding is initially a great comedic force, before an effortless pivot into something exceedingly sinister. Darby’s portrayal of their relationship feels so fleshed out, with hints at romance and hidden feelings that both actors convey so well thanks to a brilliant chemistry.

Darby made the right choice in making this a character focused script, using the Mara as an outlet for guilt as opposed to fear in a more general sense. Art Decadence is a great experiment and proves you can do so much with very little. If you buy a Torchwood release this year, make it this one.

10/10

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