'Down many rabbit holes'

I was really excited for the reading of John Webster’s ‘White Devil’. Having previously worked with ‘The Duchess of Malfi’, I was familiar with Websters style of politically charged writing, filled with corruption, passion and deceit and I was itching to get my teeth stuck into it! Before the workshop I deep dived into the context and themes of the play, this is a part of the process I really enjoy and I often find myself going down many rabbit holes when researching and considering the content.

I was really struck by the ambition and blind hope of so many of the characters in the play, leading to my discovery of the renaissance painting ‘The fall of the damned’ which really summarised the tone of the play for me and was also painted only four years after the play was written. The Play Reading was so interesting, it shed so much light on the play and it’s themes that I hadn’t even thought about.

It was enlightening to listen to others ideas on what the play meant for them and also to talk about how the play might be staged, I was really interested by the idea of using CCTV to constantly track the characters through the show and to use staging to emphasise the ‘caged bird’ concept of the Italian court. It was also interesting to talk about the challenges of the play and how to bring the slightly stilted first half to life for a modern audience. It was so great to be a part of and I left with my mind slightly fuzzy but also reeling and feeling very inspired.

Jamie Nowski