The young but widowed Duchess of Malfi is instructed by her brothers, Ferdinand and the
Cardinal, that she should not re-marry. She defies them and secretly marries Antonio, a
member of her household, and has several children by him.
Bosola is sent by Ferdinand to spy on the Duchess, and discovers her secret. Ferdinand
is incensed, and the Duchess and Antonio are forced to flee. They are separated, and the
Duchess is captured through the treachery of Bosola, and imprisoned by her brothers.
The inhabitants of the local madhouse are let loose in the Duchess's prison,
she is shown an image of the supposedly dead Antonio, and is finally murdered by Bosola.
He is so affected by her death that he determines to help Antonio, who is in fact still alive,
to gain his revenge on Ferdinand and the Cardinal.
Bosola accidentally kills Antonio, and his subsequent actions lead to his own death as well as
those of Ferdinand and the Cardinal. The Duchess's eldest son is left to take over.
The costumes for this production were Seventeenth century, because that is the period in
which the play was written. I used a limited pallette of black, white, red and gold to reflect
the darkness and passions of the play, in which the innocent are made to suffer,
many scenes take place at night, and much blood is spilt.
The Duchess and Ferdinand are twins, so were dressed in similar costumes of white and
gold at the start of the play. At this period white was the colour of mourning
in some European countries.
|
The dark and treacherous world of the story of love, betrayal, incestuous passion, madness,
torture and murder, needed an all-purpose, atmospheric setting which reflected its themes.
Our set consisted of an oppressive, black-walled chamber with gold-edged panels and a
shield with the Duchess's family coat of arms at the back, to emphasise the idea of family,
which is so important in an oppressive and negative way to the Duchess' brothers.
A red curtain with the papal crown and crossed keys was lowered in for the scenes
set in Rome, and the back wall of the main set was a gauze which was back-lit in the
scene where the supposed body of the Duchess's husband and son are revealed.
In our production Antonio was presented as if he had been crucified, to suggest
that he was an innocent victim of the Duchess's evil brothers. The gauze also meant
that the Duchess could not get too close to the body to discover that it was a fake.
Bosola appeared in disguise to the Duchess when he was to murder her, and we had him
dressed in a long, black robe, with a skull mask to represent death.
We also emphasised Ferdinand's incestuous feelings for his sister by
having him appear in the scene with the madhouse characters. At the end, when he
was suffering from lycanthropy, it seemed appropriate for him to tear out Bosola's throat
with his teeth, like a wolf.
|
