Alarums, excursions. Hautbois under stage - part 1

Three plays in two days at the Royal Shakespeare Company,

The White Devil

John Webster

Swan Theatre, RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon

A dark, brooding vision of evil. 

Webster's play is completely unfamiliar. The plot is very complex, and at times I found it hard to follow some of the intricacies of the action, but this wasn't a major turn-off. In this way, it reminded me of some of the more Byzantine film noir plots, where, unaccountably, yet another armed man enters the room. The detail stops mattering - it's the developing mood of dark and disquiet, pessimism and cynicism, that counts.

The plot flows around a high-octane lifestyle party set, fuelled by power, sex, drugs, rave parties. There's adultery and cuckoldry, the selling of favours and influence, and the manipulation of others for its own sake - the naked exercise of power and ambition. The body count is Tarantino-high. What's more, it effectively conflates sex and violence, in a very effective and chilling way. At the end, we see this whole rotten world being absorbed by the younger generation. Violence and the abuse of power becomes an inherent part of the human condition.

I liked this production a lot. The play is notable for some very strong leading roles for women, and Kirsty Bushell and Laura Elphinstone bring great power to the main roles. Set and costumes are slick and very stylish - performed on a very pared-back stage, in modern dress - the play clothes of the Über-party set. The Swan theatre is a great space, reminiscent of a Shakespearean theatre, with its deep thrust stage, tiered backstage chambers, and tiered seating on three sides. Every bit of the room was used, with action coming on from the wings, from the balconies, and from the auditorium. Impressive about this production - and also Julius Caesar at the Globe  - is the number of actors on stage. These are casts of over twenty players. That's a lot of actors getting steady work 

The production is spectacularly full of life, imagination, excitement. The on-stage sex is hot, exciting - something we rarely see. Vittoria's incarceration occurs in a monochromatic, slow motion, phantasmagoric space, eerily reminiscent of the world of Marat/Sade, given life by this same theatre company 40 years ago; Camillo's murder happens at a BDSM party. Everywhere is a heightened world of corruption and systemic abuse. The connection made between sex and violence is especially disturbing.

I felt that John Webster would have been very pleased with this production.