The air was clouded by incense, the scent
of which wafted by my nose, as the audience waited for The Duchess of Malfi by
John Webster to begin on April 9, a soggy London evening, at The Old Vic. The
theatre is legendary; not quite 200 years old and so many name changes and closures
that it could make a person’s head spin. This is a serious theatre – imagine
the auditorium and stage in thirds, the surface area of the stage alone seems
to be one third of that space – backstage is a very long way back.
The set was atmospheric: all in rich hues
of burnished bronze and brown-black wood. It immediately creates a sumptuous
mood and the lack of light brings an undercurrent of the sinister with it. Mark
Bonnar’s character of Bosola starts out as a principled man, but quickly
becomes Harry Lloyd’s Ferdinand’s creature. Bosola even calls himself a “true
servant and an honest man”, which explains his moral dilemmas succinctly.
Ferdinand is a nobleman, as is his brother, the lecherous Cardinal (played by
Finbar Lynch), and the title character, the Duchess of Malfi, his sister
(played by Eve Best).
I’d never studied the play before and I always
thought the Duchess was the evil one – turns out, it’s everyone of status BUT
her. The language, though not difficult (the play was written in the first
quarter of the 17th century), is very lyrical – it seemed all metaphor,
allegory, and simile to me. In the hands of a less skilful director* and cast,
this play definitely has the potential for tediousness. Instead, it’s a master
class of high drama, stylised melodrama even. With all the deaths that happen
in the play, actors need to be able to die well enough not to incur giggles
from the audience. This audience was consistently mesmerised, but I did get a
bit weary of all the onstage deaths – by varied means, but the body count I
think numbers just shy of double digits and happen in fairly quick succession
after the Duchess dies twice in the first scene of Act 4. I ought to also mention
that Act 3, Scene 2 is positively creepy as Ferdinand is in the Duchess’s bed
and I got confirmation of my suspicions that Ferdinand’s interest in his sister’s
affairs was altogether of the incestuous variety. It was all very well done,
executed finely, but, while it had all the precision, it lacked heart. I felt
sympathy and empathy for some of the characters, dislike for others, but after
such an emotional roller coaster, one would think the audience ought to leave
emotionally drained. Instead I was mildly irritated by what I call the “bothery
bits”: the niggling things that just linger in one’s mind and taint the overall
experience.
Bothery bits:
- It may be a custom of the time it was written in, but the play’s final speech as delivered by Delio was reminiscent of how Hamlet ended with Horatio summing up the tragedy of the events.
- Delio – played by Tunji Kasim, had a wandering accent. Began as a North American one, became more English as the play progressed, and then slipped back and forth. Tsk, tsk. They give lessons for that, very close to the theatre too, I remember seeing a sign between Waterloo station and the theatre.
- During Bosola’s death scene (not Bonnar's fault), not shutting up and dying whilst supposedly dying reminded me of Antony’s death scene in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Again, maybe it was just what was done at the time, but it goes on and on (in Antony’s case, doesn’t he climb to a balcony so he can die in Cleopatra’s arms or was that just the most recent version I saw to give him something to do while he was dying but not getting on with it?).
The Duchess of Malfi is at London's The Old Vic Theatre until June 9/12: Follow this link for more information and to purchase tickets: http://www.oldvictheatre.com/the-duchess-of-malfi/
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