The Duchess of Malfi - The Old Vic Theatre
For a bloodthirsty Jacobean tragedy, Jamie Lloyd’s revival of the Duchess of Malfi seems oddly relevant in the twenty-first century. Here we have a production that deals boldly with issues of class, gender, love and even incest, with a superb central performance by Eve Best to cap off an impressive and engaging experience. The audience is immediately greeted with a grand, yet haunting Italian palace of the era, smelling faintly of incense, which fades seamlessly between church, bedroom and later prison cell, with metal walkways running above the stage overhead serving as both a vantage point for characters and a symbolic reminder that in this social setting one is always being watched from above.
Webster’s play follows the romantic tribulations of Best’s Duchess, a widow who in an act of defiance secretly marries a palace steward, Antonio. Despite her attempts to hide this from her overbearing brothers, the Cardinal and the Duke Ferdinand, a disgraced ex-soldier named Bosola, acting as a conflicted spy, finds out the truth and puts the lovers’ lives in jeopardy.
This action is, of course, centred around Eve Best’s performance, which deserves the utmost praise: it is highly sensitive, ranging from soft and considerate in the presence of her waiting-woman and children, to passionate when in the arms of Antonio and eventually wild whilst in the hold of her captors. The realistic contrast in her character makes it both a joy and a sorrow to watch, and this variance is perhaps the best thing about the production. The uncontrollable and jealous rage shown by Ferdinand is distinct from the calculated, unfeeling malevolence of the Cardinal; however what they do share is an unsettling eagerness to murder in order to achieve their ends.
Lloyd’s interpretation is not without its faults: Bosola’s Scottish accent seemed unnecessary and I felt that even more could be done with the impressive and expensive set. The violence in the production, with the exception of the strangling scene, is also surprisingly poorly executed, yet these are reasonably minor complaints. In general the cast handles the complex script and tricky dialogue remarkably well and ultimately I came away feeling slightly stunned and emotionally exhausted; two signs of an effective tragedy.
Webster’s play follows the romantic tribulations of Best’s Duchess, a widow who in an act of defiance secretly marries a palace steward, Antonio. Despite her attempts to hide this from her overbearing brothers, the Cardinal and the Duke Ferdinand, a disgraced ex-soldier named Bosola, acting as a conflicted spy, finds out the truth and puts the lovers’ lives in jeopardy.
This action is, of course, centred around Eve Best’s performance, which deserves the utmost praise: it is highly sensitive, ranging from soft and considerate in the presence of her waiting-woman and children, to passionate when in the arms of Antonio and eventually wild whilst in the hold of her captors. The realistic contrast in her character makes it both a joy and a sorrow to watch, and this variance is perhaps the best thing about the production. The uncontrollable and jealous rage shown by Ferdinand is distinct from the calculated, unfeeling malevolence of the Cardinal; however what they do share is an unsettling eagerness to murder in order to achieve their ends.
Lloyd’s interpretation is not without its faults: Bosola’s Scottish accent seemed unnecessary and I felt that even more could be done with the impressive and expensive set. The violence in the production, with the exception of the strangling scene, is also surprisingly poorly executed, yet these are reasonably minor complaints. In general the cast handles the complex script and tricky dialogue remarkably well and ultimately I came away feeling slightly stunned and emotionally exhausted; two signs of an effective tragedy.
Rating: 4 stars
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