Like the Emperor Nero, the British Museum knows how to put on a show. That hangar of a space bearing the Sainsbury name can sometimes overwhelm the contents. Not on this occasion. The much-maligned emperor is ready to assert himself, assisted by some open-minded curators.
It’s not a whitewash of the man whose very name suggests darkness. Nero: The Man Behind the Myth is more of a blank slate, trying to rehabilitate an individual whose reputation is unknown to younger visitors. Unlike Troy, the last swords-and-sandals blockbuster at the British Museum, Nero has been away from the big screen for 70 years. Peter Ustinov was the last major star to play the emperor, back in 1951, in Quo Vadis. Since then the music-loving bad boy has been silent. It’s time for a new generation to understand a figure they might have confused with a caffè proprietor.
