REVIEW: THE DUCHESS OF MALFI – ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY – STRATFORD

THE one thing you can be sure of in the latest RSC Stratford production The Duchess of Malfi – there will be blood!

Apparently some 3,000 litres of the theatrical equivalent were ordered for this blood-soaked Jacobean tragedy.

It’s not often you get splash guards when seated in the front row as the stage becomes swamped by blood oozing out of a bloated carcass.

But, having established it’s not for the squeamish, this production is much, much more that a mere laundry nightmare.

TS Eliot described playwright, and Shakespeare contemporary, John Webster as “much possessed by death” and you can say that again while counting the bodies at the end of the play.

There’s bad blood between siblings, the newly-widowed Duchess (you never get to know her name) and her brothers Ferdinand and the Cardinal.

Gender and class politics, incest, ambition and (blood) lust are all simmering beneath the surface as the first part of the play ends on an optimistic note when the Duchess marries servant Antonio for love.

It’s then the floodgates open as the dastardly brothers, Ferdinand (played with brilliance by Alexander Cobb) and Chris New’s Cardinal heap revenge.

Maria Aberg’s bold direction does well to keep this play on track and tie-in all the motifs, themes and undercurrents. Paul Woodson’s Geordie accent fights against the rhythm of Antonio’s speech but, that aside, this is a powerful, affecting production.

Set against a bleak and stripped-bare set of scaffolding, the contemporary feel stirs the blood backed with droning music and extended guitar chords.

In fact the whole thing has a semi-operatic feel. .

Not for the faint-hearted but a truly worthy production: The Duchess of Malfi runs until August 3, 2018.

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