Columbus and the Discovery of Japan

Renaissance con man…history as paradox and discovery as an act of self-definition… An ironic epic: a wry, intelligent and fascinating account of the way the New World was opened by a routeless chancer form the Old.

Michael Billington, The Guardian

Nelson offers a vision of the discoverer as demagogue–a deceptive and self-deluded dreamer quick to invoke ‘truth and history’ without realizing he has distorted them both… It is a strong statement with clear political overtones, not least in Columbus’ bleak assessment that ‘the new century will be no less ugly that the one we’re leaving.’

Matt Wolf, Hollywood Reporter

A wry, savage Columbus…the best new play to have been seen at the Barbican main stage since it was opened a decade ago… Nelson’s Columbus is neither the hero of the old history books nor the colonialist villain…. Instead, he’s a shambling, ineffectual, low-key opportunist who takes on a voyage to he knows not where, largely because it will allow him to be called Admiral of the Ocean Sea and might guarantee a slight shift in his financial and social position back home in Seville. Accordingly, he sets sail with a motley crew of disenchanted fishermen and Jewish evacuees forced out of Spain and therefore in need of a daft project wherein to hide some of the cash they are trying to smuggle into North Africa. Even so, says Nelson, was the New World discovered, and even then only just.

Sheridan Morley, The Spectator