Posted in Uncategorized on March 10, 2018|
Leave a Comment »
Photograph by Helen Maybanks.
Oh horror! A stage soaked in blood and strewn with bodies, the Jacobeans loved a gorefest.
Surely this has little to inform our contemporary issues? Not so, Webster’s powerful and disturbing play portrays a misogynistic society in which the constant threat of violence is used to control women. The set becomes a gym in which pumped up jocks dominate the space transforming themselves into an intimidating, testosterone fuelled pack all to a soundtrack of thunderous drums. Meanwhile, a huge butchered carcass of uncertain provenance hangs ominously in the shadows like something from a Francis Bacon painting.
The Duchess, superbly played by Joan Iyiola, has infuriated her brothers by marrying a man of a lower class without their permission. They work themselves into a fury and launch a campaign of threats and mental torture culminating in the murder of the Duchess, her husband, children and waiting woman.Today it might be called an ‘honour killing’.
Violence begets more violence as the perpetrators try to justify their actions, blame others and ultimately turn their anger onto their confederates in the massacre. We are appalled by the destruction of young lives and the stupidity of those who thought it was justified.
This production is a sobering and thought provoking experience which speaks to a modern audience as directly as it did to Webster’s contemporaries. You could hear the audience holding its collective breath as the play ended. Well worth seeing.
Read Full Post »