Our thoughts on the last thing we saw before we went into lockdown.
Gang! You’re back, hi! Hello!
I hope you are well and keeping safe during this crazy time. Remember to keep washing your hands and calling your loved ones. Also, now is the perfect time to adopt that dog you’ve always wanted, just saying…
It’s our first review! Today, for you lovely people, we have a review of the last thing we manged to see in theatre before we were all locked down. Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe (2020; Saturday 7th March. I am almost certain we saw an understudy in the part of Sordido who I cannot remember the name of. I’d had a bit of a mental day, literally arrived at the theatre with 2 minutes to spare – forgive me).
Some things to mention before we get started; I love this play, I think it’s great. This is the first time I’ve seen it performed. Secondly, the Wanamaker is such a cool space, it’s very clever, everything is lit by candlelight and there is a lot that can be done with the space and the candles. Mum would like to advise you to sit in the lower levels, people (well her) have been known to pass out at the very top!
Here’s a brief synopsis of the play so you have a vague idea of what we’re saying when we get into saying it. If you want to jump this bit, scroll down 5 paragraphs (I’m not very good at ‘brief’).
So, Bianca, the daughter of a wealthy family, has eloped with Leantio to his home, Florence. Leantio is not rich, and this is a big insecurity for him, it also makes him doubt Bianca’s loyalty. He instructs his mother keep Bianca hidden, otherwise a man of better means might see her and win her. He goes off to work and a religious procession goes past, which Bianca and the mother watch from the window, where Bianca is spotted by the Duke of Florence.
In another house in Florence, a marriage is being arranged between Isabella and the Ward. The Ward is an idiot, to put it bluntly, and Isabella does not want to marry him, but doesn’t have much choice. Isabella and her uncle, Hippolito, are rarely apart and great friends (or so Isabella believes) but, when Hippolito reveals his love to her ‘as a man loves his wife, so I love thee’, she is very upset – cos incest, right. Hippolito goes to his sister, Livia (Isabella’s aunt), who says she will help him woo Isabella. She tells Isabella that she is illegitimate and therefore is free to love her uncle as they’re not related by blood. So, they start sleeping together because it’s not incest (right?). Isabella is still going to marry the Ward, 1) because her dad said she has to and 1600s and 2) it will be a good cover for the affair.
Livia is employed by the Duke of Florence to woo Bianca for him. Livia, being a wealthy widow has freedom and a lot of pull. She invites the mother round, who on arrival reveals she has left Bianca at home. Bianca is sent for. While Livia and the mother play chess, Bianca is given a tour of the house, but this is actually just a ploy to get her and the Duke alone. He immediately starts to woo her, and as he is of a higher status than her, she can’t refuse. He ultimately rapes her. (This scene is famous, more on this later – me trying to be ‘brief’).
Leantio returns and finds out about Bianca and the Duke’s affair. Livia sees heartbroken Leantio and immediately falls in love with him and becomes his mistress. The affairs continue (to recap; Isabella and Hippolito, Bianca and the Duke, and Livia and Leantio), until Bianca and Leantio bump into each other. He insults her and she tells the Duke of Leantio’s new relationship. The Cardinal (brother to the Duke) warns the Duke that his relationship with Bianca is sinful. The Duke tells Hippolito about Livia and Leantio and they decide, in order to protect her, that Leantio must die (this will also mean Bianca is free to marry the Duke which will leave the Duke free of sin). Hippolito confronts and kills Leantio. Livia, in her grief, tells Isabella that she lied, her and Hippolito are in fact related and are committing incest. Isabella is rightfully mega pissed off, she breaks off her relationship with her uncle and swears revenge on Livia.
A masquerade is held to celebrate the impending marriage of the Duke of Florence to Bianca. A play is put on, which descends into bloodshed. Hippolito is shot with poison arrows and impales himself on a sword, Isabella poisons her aunt with incense and is killed when Livia pours liquid gold on her. Bianca plans to poison the Cardinal, as she thinks he’s trying to replace the Duke, but the Duke drinks the poison by mistake. Bianca kisses the Duke and finishes his poisoned drink. The play ends with lots of dead people and the Cardinal educating us on how sin ruins everything. Duh.
Okay now all that’s been explained. Let’s get into this!
As previously mentioned, I love this play and have a very high opinion of it. I’ve read it many times, used speeches for auditions and have formed a picture of how it should run in my head (obviously, reading a play and seeing it performed can be very different). In general, I was very happy with this adaptation. The company had a great grasp on the text, everything made sense (which with a story as twisty as this is an achievement).
The cast were very good. Thalissa Teixeira was my personal favourite. You might know her from The Musketeers (2016) or the new BBC series Trigonometry (2020), which you should really watch as it’s very good. In the script, her character Bianca is referred to as a young gentlewoman of ‘about sixteen’, whilst Teixeira obviously wasn’t this age, her initial naivety and innocence are clear. Isabella (played by Olivia Vinall) also begins the play naïve. Vinall had a lot of maturity to her voice, which made sense later in the play, especially once Isabella finds out she’s been deceived, but at the start we found it confusing as her physicality was so young and playful. Mum thought that Vinall didn’t look young enough, ‘surely they could have found an actress of the appropriate age, there are plenty out there!’ These two women mature quickly through the play, Bianca unfairly after her first ‘encounter’ with the Duke and Isabella by choice when she begins the affair with her uncle. On the affair with her uncle, the use of colour-blind casting here added a huge amount to the play, Hippolito (played by Daon Broni) having a differing skin colour to Isabella added tension surrounding her pregnancy. Both young women mature due to the actions of Livia (played by Tara Fitzgerald –Selyse Baratheon in Game of Thrones), very much the woman to ‘beware’. Fitzgerald also had a deep, mature voice, however this time it suited. Fitzgerald commanded the stage and played the women around her beautifully. Livia has the advantage of age, she is able to manipulate easily and hold power due to her position and being a widow, she is respected but still must bend to the will of men.
The second thing I mentioned earlier was how wonderful the Wanamaker theatre is, and despite the stage being small, much can be done with it. The candles can been lowered, extinguished, or held in a way that enhances the mood of certain scenes and brings the audience closer to it all. (The production images here are taken from The Globe website
and you can see how the candles were used during this production). We have seen the candles used to better effect in other productions, however, at the most effective place, the nature of the script and the choices in staging made it difficult. So, the famous chess scene. Livia and the mother playing chess and the meeting of Bianca and the Duke are part of the same scene. In the script the chess game is played on the stage below, whilst the meeting takes place on the ‘upper stage’ (think balcony in Romeo and Juliet but not romantic). It’s reminiscent of the end of Macbeth where the action keeps jumping between Malcolm’s camp and Dunsinane, but less pacey. In this production they were played in the same space, but the separate actions could not be seen by the other. This was very cool and the distressed Bianca’s presence between the mother and Livia whilst they calmly played chess was a powerful and moving image. Anyway, the candles. As you can see in the top two images, the rest of the cast were playing the chess pieces (which meh, framed the action fairly well but also crowded the stage a bit) with handheld candles of their own. The action of Bianca and the Duke was lit by a small candelabra. If this were the only light on stage and everything else was extinguished, I think the darkness of the Duke’s actions would have been harder to watch. But, it was still very powerful and poignant.
So, I said I’d tell you why this scene is famous. (All this information has been taken from the introduction pages of my copy of the play – New Mermaids 2nd edition 1994). Firstly, it is celebrated due to its use of the upper and lower stage and the parallels with morality, upper stage being closer to God but the actions of the Duke being anything but holy. Secondly, for the metaphors the game of chess holds. There are 2 games being played, the game of chess and the game of wooing Bianca. Bianca, meaning white, and therefore innocence, is tricked/defeated by Livia, her actions being dark or black. The masterful dialogue reflects the distinctions in class and intelligence between the mother and Livia, Livia is able to manipulate the mother easily. The game itself is also a concentrated model of the play’s fusion of sexual and social hierarchies.
Back to thoughts. The space (designed by Joanna Scotcher) was kept fairly clear. There was a structure built against the back wall (can just about see it in the background of the images above) and some cushioned stools that were pulled into and out of the playing space by the cast, meaning the play could carry on at a pace without huge elaborate scene changes. The changes of location were still clear. The cast climbed the structure at the back, and also moved and climbed amongst the audience, drawing us into the action further. At the interval, a bottle was placed on a tray within the structure. Being the kind of person I am, I was like, it’s there for a reason, watch and find out why, it seemed a confusing and strange prop to set so delicately. When it was eventually used, which was a while after it was set, it was used in the fight between Hippolito and Leantio to smash and then kill Leantio. I am probably unduly irritated by this, but I am, none the less, irritated by it. Hippolito could conceivably carry a knife right? And stab Leantio with that? Especially as the ‘removal’ of Leantio is premeditated. Or enter with the bottle and decide to use it as his weapon in the moment. Being an actor, I understand the rules behind stage fights and weapon management, however, the bottle being on the stage for so long without being used left me watching the bottle, wondering why it was there and getting annoyed by it.
There are bits in the play, like when Livia just falls head over heels in love with Leantio, that feel a bit clunky, but the addition of music (a fairy-tale run of bells) at this point drew attention to the clunk in a way that brought humour to the madness of it and smoothed the ‘clunk’. The costumes were ambiguous of period, mixing Jacobean (when the play is believed to have first been performed) and more 20th century fashions, perhaps nudging to a feeling this action could realistically be taking place at any time. Characters were still dressed in the luxury afforded to each of their statuses, for example Leantio went from jeans and oversized blazers to more classically expensive pieces once his affair with Livia started. They were great, I desperately want Bianca’s dogtooth two-piece suit.
Women Beware Women itself is a great play as it has 4 major female roles and the women are at the front of the action (which is unlike lots of the dramas of the period). The women in the play are confined by the patriarchy – the younger women cannot choose their own paths and Livia serves them, but must, to ensure her own freedom and position. With freedom of choice for these women, perhaps the play would not reach such a bloody end. #GirlPower
In general, we really enjoyed this production. Not quite what I had pictured but a clear and engaging telling. The only thing that really upset me was that bottle!
Well there you go! The first insight into our brains. If you saw this production and have any thoughts of your own (or just fancy a chat) then don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can find us on Twitter and Instagram at @whatwevewatched_
Thanks gang, you’re a dream!
Ellie (and Anita) x
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