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Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
Ok, ok I know, this should probably be in 'Entertainment' but most of you won't be in Oxford to see the play, so I figure it's just random!
Here is the review from my play (I was muchly bouncing around the room after reading it I have to say!)
The Duchess of Malfi
by Rebecca Donnelly
2003-11-7
The Duchess of Malfi
Wadham Moser
Tuesday 11 – Saturday 15 October
Rape, incest, people thinking they're wolves, lecherous Cardinals and lots of death. A typical night out in Oxford then. Whatever your tastes, Webster's The Duchess of Malfi can probably satisfy them. The tale follows the fortunes of the widowed duchess, forced to conceal her inappropriate behaviour and then pregnancy from her disapproving brothers.
Ben Van der Velde plays Ferdinand, the twin brother secretly in love with his sister and motivated by pain and guilt as well as desire and pride. Van der Velde conveys the rage, frustration and fantasies of this character well, although there could perhaps be more of a descent from incipient to full-blown lunacy. Ross Brooks' Cardinal unites moralist and lecher with worrying ease. This pontiff is as smoothly eloquent as he is violent, murderous and sexually rampant. Julia, played with temptress skill by Rebecca Wharf, shows the contrast between her exhibitionist sexuality and the private wooing and marriage of the duchess.
Yet between all the madness, there are also scenes of intensely poignant marital harmony. The bedroom scenes with a playful and coquettish Cariola (< that's me, Cymruangel! ) show the duchess and Antonio's fragile happiness and the sensuality of their love. Carly Vandenburg's duchess is at once sensual and almost child-like in her simplicity. Her submission paradoxically becomes her strength and source of power over others even beyond the grave. With madness all around, she kneels, awaiting death, but at peace; she has lost everything and nothing.
So there you have it - I'm a coquette!
Here is the review from my play (I was muchly bouncing around the room after reading it I have to say!)
The Duchess of Malfi
by Rebecca Donnelly
2003-11-7
The Duchess of Malfi
Wadham Moser
Tuesday 11 – Saturday 15 October
Rape, incest, people thinking they're wolves, lecherous Cardinals and lots of death. A typical night out in Oxford then. Whatever your tastes, Webster's The Duchess of Malfi can probably satisfy them. The tale follows the fortunes of the widowed duchess, forced to conceal her inappropriate behaviour and then pregnancy from her disapproving brothers.
Ben Van der Velde plays Ferdinand, the twin brother secretly in love with his sister and motivated by pain and guilt as well as desire and pride. Van der Velde conveys the rage, frustration and fantasies of this character well, although there could perhaps be more of a descent from incipient to full-blown lunacy. Ross Brooks' Cardinal unites moralist and lecher with worrying ease. This pontiff is as smoothly eloquent as he is violent, murderous and sexually rampant. Julia, played with temptress skill by Rebecca Wharf, shows the contrast between her exhibitionist sexuality and the private wooing and marriage of the duchess.
Yet between all the madness, there are also scenes of intensely poignant marital harmony. The bedroom scenes with a playful and coquettish Cariola (< that's me, Cymruangel! ) show the duchess and Antonio's fragile happiness and the sensuality of their love. Carly Vandenburg's duchess is at once sensual and almost child-like in her simplicity. Her submission paradoxically becomes her strength and source of power over others even beyond the grave. With madness all around, she kneels, awaiting death, but at peace; she has lost everything and nothing.
So there you have it - I'm a coquette!
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