Tag Archives: John Webster

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“The Duchess [of Malfi]” at the Trafalgar Theatre

It’s hard to add to a Jacobean tragedy – they are already… extra. Zinnie Harris, who has adapted and directed John Webster’s revenge play, gives it a good go. There are flaws here, but also lots of ideas. It’s a blunt, brisk affair, but always interesting.

Webster took a character as his title, and the production boasts a star in the lead. Jodie Whittaker, playing the recently widowed noblewoman who falls in love with her steward, is great and clearly relishes the show’s intensity.

Harris, however, focuses on her ensemble and the result is mixed. Decisions will fascinate those that know the original play – who kills who is tweaked – but run the danger of being confusing. Harris senses the problem and projects character names on to the stage. This help is welcome, but it feels as if the action is being set up for too long. There are benefits to giving each character their due. The theme of servitude comes into focus: the hired killer, Bosola, and Cariola, the maid, are highlighted and Jude Owusu and Matti Houghton, who take these roles, really shine. Romance also does well: Joel Fry’s Antonio (another servant) is appealing and is given more to do than in the original.

The cutesy chemistry between Whittaker and Fry is odd, but effective. We feel for both when it comes to their separation. As for the punishment the Duchess suffers – for her secret marriage and children – the production is appropriately horrific, albeit effortful. Of course, scenes of torture are going to be difficult to watch. But surely discomfort needn’t come from the sound design. When the Duchess is deprived of sleep by the playing of loud noise, the production becomes – literally – painful.

Things get better. Bringing the Duchess, and other characters who suffer a similar fate, back the stage as ghosts is a great move – suitably spooky and leading to more fine moments from Whittaker. The trouble is that your ears might still be ringing.

Not all of the production’s problems down to Harris. Updating the language to use a lot of expletives is brave and forceful. It’s a shame it results in a lot of giggles from the audience. But the biggest issue is Webster’s villains – the Duchess’ brothers. Paul Ready, as the Cardinal, is effectively repulsive (and the twist on the murder of his mistress a stroke of genius). But emphasising the character’s knowing hypocrisy makes the role flat. It’s even worse for Ferdinand, who is simply a psychopath. Rory Fleck Byrne is good in the role (he is genuinely scary) but there’s too little descent into madness and the insanity is extravagant. With so many changes to the play, why keep the idea of him being a werewolf? Of course, it’s tough to take the brothers’ warped justifications and outrage over their sister seriously. But Harris doesn’t even allow us to entertain their reasoning and loses too much tension as a result.

Until 20 December 2024

www.theduchessplay.com

Photo by Marc Brenner

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“The White Devil” at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

John Webster’s play is a textbook Jacobean revenge tragedy, circling around an adultery that engenders murders in Italian courts riven with plots and poison. It’s a play about rage and, with emotions boiling (it’s lust not love on offer), needs the strong hand provided here to create a rollicking evening that should satisfy any bloodlust while providing plenty to think about.

Director Annie Ryan shows no qualms about dealing with Webster’s text. Tidying up, with the help of Michael West, the poetry is retained while twists and turns in the plot are treated with ruthless efficiency during a swift two- and-a-half hours. There’s no sweetening the disgusting misogyny. With ahistorical steam punk touches to a scene of sorcery (“quaintly done”, indeed), there’s the warning that prejudice and violence are a perennial threat.

It’s satisfying that a policy of balanced gender casting works so seamlessly. Kate Stanley-Brennan shines in her starring role of Vittoria, particularly in the scene of her murder trial, a riveting combination of indignation and cunning. And it’s good to see Shanaya Rafaat doing well as the servant Zanche, with a writhing physicality that terrifies. Also gratifying is the part of Vittoria’s young stepson, which cleverly uses the skills of Mollie Lambert.

Jamie Ballard as Bracciano
Jamie Ballard as Bracciano

Perhaps Ryan’s embrace of Webster’s black humour is her biggest achievement. Incredulous moments are made funny – we’re going to laugh anyway – with the instant calls for revenge dealt with superbly by Jamie Ballard’s manic Bracciano. This adulterous, murdering Duke isn’t the only engaging villain on offer. Indeed, even the single sympathetic character, Vittoria’s “virtuous” brother Marcello (a good turn from Jamael Westman) falls victim to his own impetuous anger. His fate provides a pause for thought and pace, with the play’s one moment of compassion boldly handled.

Ahead of the plotting gentry and papacy (a great role here for Garry Cooper as a suave clergyman) is Flamineo, delivered with spectacular charisma by Joseph Timms, whose energy and impeccable delivery garner laughs and excitement. Timms makes his pandering and posturing crook the arch evil in a play with no shortage of demons. There are devils all around, a bewilderingly “catalogue of knaves”, and Ryan deals with them all brilliantly. Her patience with the play is truly saintly.

Until 16 April 2017

www.shakespearesglobe.com

Photos by Marc Brenner

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“The Duchess of Malfi” at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

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2014 is off to a great start for lovers of the stage, as the late Sam Wanamaker’s visionary plan for an indoor theatre, next to Shakespeare’s Globe, is now open. Deservedly taking Wanamaker’s name, this reimagining of a Jacobean indoor theatre is an exciting opportunity to see plays of the period in an authentic context.

So what’s it like? In a word: fascinating. The tiny space is instantly appealing. Candlelit, it is full of charm and even smells wonderful. The acoustics are shockingly good; this will surely be its major contribution to our understanding of Renaissance theatre. That it’s lit so differently to the theatres we are used to, and you can hear a pin drop, makes for a very different interaction between the audience and the play – one that, for me anyway, felt heightened and cerebral. It is also, it has to be admitted, rather uncomfortable. Bench seating is never luxurious and the theatre is crowded, potentially hot, with some awful sightlines. Go, but avoid the restricted view seats.

The first production is John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi. The gore filled revenge story unexpectedly benefits from being staged in this space. It all seems much quieter than we are used to. Much more about listening to the horrors inflicted on a widowed Duchess who dares to marry again than seeing blood splattered everywhere. First directorial honours go to the Globe’s boss Dominic Dromgoole, who does a superb job embracing the new theatre. The famous scene where the Duchess is visited in the dark, which here really is pitch black, is thrilling.

Inevitably there’s the sense of a company still finding its feet. Gemma Arterton’s performance as the Duchess is understated and seems spot on as a result. But her wicked brothers, played by David Dawson and James Garnon, who oppose her marriage and then torture her when they discover it, seem overplayed as the play progresses.

Webster’s exuberant language often raises a smile nowadays but playing it for laughs (a common way of dealing with his wild metaphors) seems a missed opportunity here. Duke Ferdinand’s insanity certainly isn’t supposed to be funny nor, I am sure, are the mad people sent to live with the Duchess as part of her punishment. Just possibly, this is the place to play the text straight.

But these reservations only serve to support what is so exciting about this new old theatre. The chances it offers to explore well-known plays, and hopefully soon to rediscover lost works, make the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse brim with potential. London has a new star venue.

Until 16 February 2014

www.shakespearesglobe.com

Written 17 January 2014 for The London Magazine

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“The Duchess of Malfi” at The Old Vic

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The stage is set for high drama at The Old Vic with Jamie Lloyd’s new production of The Duchess of Malfi. Soutra Gilmour’s set excites at first, with accomplished lighting from James Farncombe, but it quickly tires. This gothic fantasia lacks subtlety and isn’t versatile enough – at one point it seems to snow inside a palace and, worse still, it has a cardboard cut-out feel that is unfortunately reflected in some of the performances.

Placing the focus on John Webster’s text, shouting the play’s complexity and trying to challenge our ideas about Jacobean revenge stories, Lloyd creates an exceptionally clear production. Clarity isn’t usually a fault but you can take anything to an extreme: much of the cast’s delivery becomes heavy and laboured. Lloyd is too good a director to make The Duchess of Malfi tedious but what should be a gut-wrenching ride of a play is too often halting.

There are important exceptions. Mark Bonnar plays the villainous Basola with great complexity. His treachery towards the Duchess and her steward (a fine performance from Tom Bateman), whom she has secretly married, is multilayered.

In the title role, Eve Best’s performance is never less than superb. It’s clear that for Lloyd her character is more than the victim of gruesome torture – she is a shinning light of humanity. Best is impressively natural, given the difficulty of the part. Believable as a real woman as well as a symbol of dignity, her performance saves the play.

Until 9 June 2012

www.oldvictheatre.com

Photo by Johan Persson

Written 29 March 2012 for The London Magazine