"The Duchess of Malfi". Pilch

The Duchess of Malfi is not a subtle play. It’s a brooding, darkly philosophical cesspit smelling foully of obsession, murder, incest, corruption and damnation. That’s why it’s so good. I’ve seen it several times, and I always feel like I need a good wash afterwards.

Nathan Crewe’s production at the Pilch captures some of that evil. There’s some very creepy stalking from the malcontent Bosola, a haunting graveyard echo from the departed Duchess, and two brilliantly evil brothers in Jules Upson’s Count Ferdinand and Bailey Finch-Robinson’s Cardinal. These two in particular found ways into their characters that turned them into true theatrical creations: larger than life in just the right way. They embodied the grand guignol of Webster’s writing, and their performances uncovered moments of powerful drama: Ferdinand suddenly throwing himself to the floor to attack an imagined assailant, the Cardinal struggling to hold on to his veneer of respect while confessing that he's ‘puzzl’d in a question about hell’.

However, for the most part, this production was lacking in sparkle. This play is 410 years old. It cries out for imagination, interpretation, opportunities to gobsmack the audience. And most of the time what we got was just characters standing in front of us reciting lines. Creative students can do better than that. I’d far rather see a production that took risks and failed than one that takes no risks and just quietly fades away. The Pilch’s own website says it ‘prides itself on providing a highly flexible space for experimental theatre’. So let’s have some experimental theatre.

Grumbles aside, this Duchess of Malfi was sensibly edited, easy to follow and a decent introduction to Webster. But, sorry, I want more. Back in 1983 I remember directing Webster’s other big play The White Devil, and we sacrilegiously did it in Merton Chapel. Every performance felt like a black Sabbath, especially as characters copulated around the font. The domestic bursar was not pleased – and that is surely the best sign that a student production is doing something right.

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