THE DUCHESS OF MALFI. To 11 November.
Leeds
THE DUCHESS OF MALFI
by John Webster
West Yorkshire Playhouse (Quarry Theatre) To 11 November 2006
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 9 Nov 1.30pm, 11 Nov 2pm
Audio-described 11 Nov 2pm
BSL Signed 6 Nov
Captioned 7 Nov
Runs 3hr One interval
TICKETS: 0113 213 7700
www.wyp.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 4 November
Fine staging of a great play for pessimists.
John Webster, aptly seen as a lugubrious voyeur child in Shakespeare in Love, is provided with a voyeur of his own in Philip Franks’ forceful, clear and updated (to mid-20th century Italy) production of his super-lugubrious story about a free-spirited noble lady crushed by the remorseless evil of her brothers when she remarries.
Like Twelfth Night’s Lady of the Strachey, the Duchess marries the gentleman of her wardrobe – or her secretary, Antonio. Yet her brothers, who cover evil’s spectrum, oppress her long before they identify her low-born spouse (her marriage is revealed by pregnancy – being a woman’s to be a victim: all 3 in this play get killed).
Ever straight-backed, direct of footstep and calmly authoritative of voice, her Cardinal brother organises the plot against her. An assured super-tyrant, he knows inferior clergy will avert their faces and keep their mouths shut when finding him in flagrante with his red-basque, sexily-stockinged mistress. Sex and cruelty are conjoined in this Cardinal, whom Guy Williams gives an utterly smooth callousness, poisoned bible ready at hand to kill Julia as he stabs away in final sexual penetration.
Ducal brother Ferdinand is a secretive voyeur, sneaking through a secret panel into his sister’s bedroom and overlooking her imprisonment through a roof-vent. Contrasting his brother’s composure, Ferdinand’s liable to sudden, darting shifts, his wolf-transformation beginning as he views the Duchess’s corpse, the bent, scurrying movements making overt a viciousness formerly seen through the icily precise haughtiness of his manner.
In contrast, Imogen Stubbs’ Duchess is a genuine, joyous person, sexually brimming-over as she encourages Antonio, aware of the need for caution (there’s a lot of shushing in their bedroom tryst). A lively, mature being (easy to believe about the nightlife she’s lived), if it weren’t for her brothers (and if she had a better hair-stylist) she could have persuaded others to accept her behaviour through infectious happiness.
Sebastian Harcombe shows the self-hating agent of power Bosola’s mind, if not his heart (Webster hardly shows a clear path to this character’s core). Leslie Travers’ set creates grand-scale elegance, and its reverse in a vast, gloomy basement.
Delio: Philip Cumbus
Antonio: James Albrecht
Bosola: Sebastian Harcombe
Cardinal: Guy Williams
Ferdinand: Timothy Walker
Silvio: Oliver Birch
Roderigo: David Caves
Cariola: Jane Bertish
Duchess: Imogen Stubbs
Julia: Melanie Jessop
Director: Philip Franks
Designer: Leslie Travers
Lighting: Charles Balfour
Sound: Mic Pool
Composer: Matthew Scott
Fight director: Kate Waters
Assistant director: Sam Brown
2006-11-05 22:20:56