Educational Media Reviews Online

The Duchess of Malfi is one of a series of plays from the classical repertory brought to DVD from productions recorded at Greenwich Theatre in London. The distributor has issued for each of the plays three-disc sets specifically designed for educational use. For The Duchess, disc one presents the complete play, recorded by multiple cameras during a single performance by Greenwich Theatre. Disc two contains 80 minutes of interviews with the stage production’s director, set and costume designer, costume supervisor, lighting designer, sound designer, company stage manager, deputy stage manager, assistant stage manager, and most of the cast. Disc three presents the complete play seen from a single-camera perspective. The viewer sees the entire stage at all times, and this duplicates the view an audience member attending the live performance would have.

The play was written by John Webster in 1612-1613 and published for the first time in 1623. Elizabeth Freestone, the director of the stage production, says on disc two that the title character is “a fantastically complicated character” and one of the great tragic roles of the Jacobean era, “if not the greatest.” Freestone says the play is also notable for having a female character as the lead, a rare occurrence at the time it was written.

The Duchess is a widow with two brothers who plan to keep her from remarrying. But she has secretly remarried to a man below her class. The ensuing schemes and revenge plots lead to several murders during the play. As Aislin McGuckin, the actress who plays the Duchess in this production, says on disc two, “Sex and violence, that’s what Webster is,” and compares the work to the films of Quentin Tarantino. Director Freestone has further increased the modern resonances by moving the play’s setting from Italy in the early 1500s to fascist Italy during the 1930s.

This DVD set is an excellent resource for both literature and theater classes. Students in English studying the play as a text have the chance to hear the words acted by top-flight performers. And they can see the text as it’s spoken by using the optional subtitles on the DVD. The menu provides access to each scene for close study.

Theater students can see how to make a centuries-old play become a vital performance for today’s audience. The second disc provides insights into the artistic decisions made for the performance, and also the practical considerations that need to be accounted for when staging a play in a particular space. Disc three provides special interest to students of stagecraft. The fixed-camera viewpoint allows a full-stage view at all times, enabling a student to watch all the entrances, exits, and movement, as well as lighting changes.

The Stage on Screen web site provides additional educational resources. “The Green Room” section allows (after registration) access to costume galleries, production stills, a close text reading of the play, the director’s text of the play, the original play program, sources, and other material. All in all, this work is highly recommended for all institutions that have classes in 17th-century English literature and theater.