Duchess of Malfi review and star rating: ★★
This overstimulating, overstated adaptation of Jacobean tragedy The Duchess of Malfi struggles to find true dramatic depth.
Written by English dramatist John Webster around 1612, the revenge tragedy follows the titular Duchess who is widowed but remarries in secret, then has a baby with husband Antonio, who is also one of her servants. It angers her two brothers, including one horribly bent Cardinal. Act two follows a revenge plot on the Duchess.
Zinnie Harris’ contemporary production struggles to convey the intrigue that comes with the script’s remarkable darkness, more often feeling ridiculously overly hammy and overstated, relying on techniques that feel amateur and forced.
The Duchess of Malfi with Jodie Whittaker: so overly dramatic and overstimulating that you struggle to take it seriously
The first act trundles along and you kind of suspend your disbelief. Jodie Whittaker, returning to the London stage for the first time in over 10 years, takes a confident and playful approach to the Duchess, leaning into her sexual urges by throwing her body around the stage with commendable zephyr. Rory Fleck Byrne is particularly good as brother Antonio, his eyes throwing lasers at her in a way that shows he’s genuinely unhinged.
But by act two when the Duchess faces the wrath of her brothers, Harris’ production struggles with overblown depictions of gore that are massively OTT. It’s so overly dramatic that at times you have to stifle laughter. There’s so much gore that it loses potency, and the violence feels badly choreographed. At one point you can basically see the little pouch of blood being squeezed to show someone’s head exploding, and at another point someone being decapitated provokes confused looks from the audience rather than shock. The timing’s often off and loud blaring sirens are so annoying that they remove further tension. It’s so overstimulating that you end up losing track of what’s going on.
This story about persecuting a woman who has had an affair, in which one of her brothers believes he’s turned into a wolf, is challenging to modernise. That’s not to say it hasn’t been done – 2019’s Almeida production was reviewed well by City AM as a “shocking, brilliant drama.” But if there is a way, this production isn’t it.
The Duchess of Malfi plays at the Trafalgar Theatre until 20 December