“What do you call a woman who’s lost 90% of her intelligence?” asked the Cardinal in a misogynist stand-up routine during the interval – cue comedy drum-fill – “a widow”.
Perhaps a curious line to trot out during one of literature’s most poetic works but one, I’m told, is surprisingly accurate for an adaptation set in Brighton’s post-war underworld.
For the most part Ten Thousand Several Doors, Prodigal Theatre’s production of John Webster’s Duchess of Malfi, succeeds in honouring the Jacobean tragedy with its offbeat reworking.
In some superb promenade theatre, the cast led the crowd through the Nightingale kitchen, the pub downstairs, through set changes and to the windows to watch the Duchess’s doomed escape bid through Brighton Station.
This clever, effective use of the space engaged the audience and demanded a response to the brothers’ cruelty and corruption.
However, for all its novelty and well-deserved success in previous years, this production lacked conviction and struggled to match the performance of Alister O’Loughlin (as Daniel de Bosola) who was excellent throughout.
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