The Duchess review: Jodie Whittaker deserves an Olivier… but the rest of it doesn’t
Jodie Whittaker and Joel Fry bring fleeting moments of clarity to an otherwise muddled production.
Jodie Whittaker’s spotless performance as a headstrong and sexually-liberated The Duchess is sadly not enough to save this hollow and disparate production.
Based on John Webster’s Jacobean revenge tragedy, the Duchess of Malfi, this latest adaptation by Zinnie Harris tries to make profound points about the ongoing relevance of domestic violence and yet simultaneously seems to relish in putting on stage the most traumatic scenes of brutality against women I have ever seen.
The play follows the titular Duchess as she marries her servant Antonio, defying the commands of her controlling brothers in the process. When they find out, they have the Duchess horribly murdered, setting off a spiral of revenge and death that will be so familiar to anyone who’s studied a Renaissance drama.
Like the shortened, more modern title suggests, Harris's adaptation lifts the story out of the melodrama of 16th century court life and plonks it instead in an abstract time period where characters say "Yeah", and the Early Modern speeches are interrupted by lines like "Oi, **k off," which is jarring to say the least.
But, to start off with the positives: Jodie Whittaker is an enthralling powerhouse throughout. Returning to the stage for the first time in over a decade, she manages to turn Webster’s wayward Duchess into a straight-talking feminist with infinite layers of light and shade.
Across the first act she goes from bubbly to sexual to determined to soft to maternal, in short, she’s an actual woman.
Sitting opposite her, and also a highlight, is Joel Fry’s performance as Antonio.
Bringing a quirky, nervous energy we’ve come to expect from the Plebs actor, he perfectly matches Whittaker’s open love with quiet dedication.
Finally, Jude Owusu as Bosola manages to navigate the tricky path his character takes with grace and huge depths of emotion. He remains a sympathetic character despite the terrible things he does and we’re always able to see the justification behind his actions. The last scene in particular from him is masterful.
Now onto the rest. The first act is definitely the better of the two and bears the hallmarks of a Tarantino film. From the off, Whittaker slinks onto stage in a red dress and sings a sultry ballad, before the characters' names are blared onto the backdrop like the title cards in Hateful Eight.
It carries an offbeat humour which sometimes works and does manage to set up the themes of class, misogyny and male violence in a way I was sure would be picked up in the second act.
…Only it wasn’t.
My first reaction to the second act was to be reminded of my own GCSE performance of 4.48 Psychosis – think screaming 16-year-old’s running around in night gowns and you’re there – while my second was to sit cringing at the slow, torturous deaths Whittaker and the other female characters go through.
Yes, all the same characters die in the source material, but the length and gore levels in those scenes seemed to perpetuate and enjoy the woman-bashing rather than make criticisms about it – when there is so much female trauma and anguish in the media already, do we really need to see it in such a distressing way?
After Whittaker’s death, the show never really recovers and some of the awkward line readings in the final act caused the audience to laugh rather than gasp.
This left a feeling of unfulfilled promise in the air as we left the Trafalgar Theatre and the hope that tweaks are made before the show’s run continues.
The Duchess will run at Trafalgar Theatre until 20th December 2024, tickets on sale at London Theatre Direct.
For more recommendations, here's the best West End shows, best musicals on tour and our review of The Lehman Trilogy.
