Chocolate Factory Gets Revenge With White Devil???

The Menier Chocolate Factory is set for a non-musical interlude this autumn after the revival of They’re Playing Our Song, starring Connie Fisher and Alistair McGowan, which finishes on 28 September (See News, 23 Jun 2008). According to Variety, the next production will be a revival of John Webster’s bloody 1612 play The White Devil. In the Jacobean revenge tragedy, the Duke of Brachiano’s adulterous affair with Vittoria, the daughter of a noble but poor family, scandalises the court and sparks off a series of murders, attacks and counter-attacks.

Jonathan Munby is due to direct the new production at the Menier. Munby’s credits include Henry V, The Anniversary, The Canterbury Tales, A Number and this summer’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe.

After the bloodletting – and subject to final contract negotiations – Trevor Nunn’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s 1973 Broadway musical A Little Night Music, based on Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 Swedish film, will go ahead for a Christmas season in Southwark (See The Goss, 30 Apr 2008). David Farley has signed up to design the new production. Farley’s previous Chocolate Factory credits include Little Shop of Horrors, La Cage aux Folles and Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, for which he won a slew of awards.