'how despicable these characters are'

What struck me most about our journey through exploring The White Devil was just how despicable these characters are, but how it didn’t really land until the very end of the play, when there was time to look back and take stock. I mean the clue was in the title, but when the play opens with mentions of murders on the first page, and the characters response being that it

was okay because they were ‘ordinary people’, the bar is already set at quite a height.

It was so interesting to see the comedy come to life and something I truly didn’t notice prior to the workshop. Perhaps it was my own misunderstanding on the reading of it, but when on our feet, there was a real sense of play with the language between characters. This also made real sense of the relationships for me, and the truly deep nuances that lie within them. The sibling dynamic in particular between Vittoria and Flamineo, is one that is so jarring, and felt almost inappropriate, but until I saw it played out in the flesh did I fully grasp how complex it is.

The power dynamics are what really brought it all to life for me. I felt excited to witness female characters who found themselves in truly dire circumstances, but without an ounce of victim mentality present - which felt contemporary and exciting, and I think the thing I look most forward to seeing in the next phase of this plays life.

Darcy Willison-Sloan