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Caravaggio - Act 1

February 10, 2026 · 41 min

Show notes

Caravaggio, the brilliant outlaw painter whose genius made him famous and whose violence made him a fugitive.

Rome, 1610. The city is loud, corrupt, holy, and dangerous. Caravaggio thrives in it.

Act One drops you straight into the night everything breaks. Inside a dark Roman chapel, Caravaggio confronts his greatest rival and exposes a truth the Church is not ready to control. God does not live in perfection. God lives in flesh, shadow, and brutal light.

Outside the church, Rome answers back. Wine turns into provocation. Desire turns into rivalry. Old grudges sharpen. A debt comes due. What begins as swagger spirals into violence, and by dawn Caravaggio’s life in Rome is over.

Wanted. Hunted. Unforgivable.

A carriage slips through the gates. A boat cuts across black water. Behind him, the city that crowned him now wants him dead. Ahead lies Malta, a fortified island ruled by warrior monks, where faith is enforced with steel and survival demands obedience.

Act One is ignition. Art as rebellion. Faith as power. Genius as liability.

This is where the fuse gets lit.


Cast

Dennis Kleinman · Narrator

Craig Parker · Caravaggio

Dan Lauria · Cardinal Del Monte

Bruce Davison · Alof de Wignacourt

Shaan Sharma · Stefano della Croce

Catherine Lidstone · Lena

Sarah Elmaleh · Maria

Brendan Bradley · Annibale Carracci

Noah James · Ranuccio Tomassoni

Josh Sterling · Ottavio Tomassoni

Zeke Alton · Giovan Tomassoni

Nick Monteleone · Mancini

Matt Curtin · Toppa

Bjorn Johnson · Pope Paul V

Ray Abruzzo · Pope Clement VIII

Written by

Richard Vetere

Executive Produced by

Jack Levy, Shaan Sharma, and Mark Knell

Table Read is a Manifest Media production.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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