'Tis Pity She's a Whore

Synopsis

The course of true love never did run smooth - Giovanni and Annabella love each other deeply but there is a barrier between them that means that they can never be together - for that would be incest. A rollercoaster ride of desire and turmoil with an unforgettable finale.

Our Review:

Ron Simpson - 11 May 2011

After the shocked reaction in some quarters to the poster for ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, the billboard outside the Playhouse exhorts us to judge the play, not the poster. Press Night found the theatre well filled, with a welcome number of young people, generally responding positively to a production that is relatively chaste and becomes violent only when it’s unavoidable. The warning sign promises “moderate violence” – if the ending is only moderate, then things must have got pretty bad in Leeds in recent years!

Jonathon Munby’s production updates John Ford’s play over 300 years to the 1950s and it works well, not only in such jolly little details as Bergetto’s Vespa, but in more structural ways, notably in establishing the upper-middle-class milieu more clearly. However, the clarity also serves to show what a strange play ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore is. Corruption is all around Florio’s family and friends, especially among the suitors for his daughte...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review

Related Whatsonstage.com Articles

WYP Angers Leeds Catholics with Poster Image More»