The White Devil

Synopsis

When the adulterous Brachiano and Vittoria become involved in a dangerous affair, an explosive conclusion seems inevitable. In a corrupt and savage Italy, where no one is who they seem, the individual must fight for survival against the structures that define their very existence: the State, the Church and their own sense of right and wrong. Based on actual events, Webster’s haunting and brutal play delves into the darkest recesses of the human condition in this visceral and explosive celebration of poetry and theatre.

Our Review:

13 October 2008

Like his better-known melodrama The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster’s The White Devil (1612) is a revenge tragedy full of gruesome violence, mordant humour and potent imagery. The action may seem sensational but the bare bones of the plot are based on a real-life murder story in late-sixteenth-century Italy, given a characteristically Websterian macabre twist. Here Jonathan Munby’s modern-dress, traverse staging gives a pacy, fluid and lucid account of this underrated play.

The main protagonists are Bracciano and Vittoria, whose passionate affair leads to murder and mayhem. After Vittoria’s brother Flamineo has helped them to kill off their respective spouses Isabella and Camillo in Rome, the criminal couple escape to Padua, where they marry. But they are pursued there in disguise by Isabella’s brother Francisco and Lodovico, who loved her, both hell-bent on revenge.

Unlike Melly Still’s recent design-led production of <...

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