Buzzing

I recently participated in a staged reading of the White Devil by John Webster, courtesy of Lazarus Theatre Company, and it was an absolute pleasure to tackle such a dense, knotty, twisty piece of classic theatre within a room of eager, insightful and knowledgeable creatives.

The reading unfolded with a focus on the text, which allowed each thought to land, and though each actor read with script in hand, there were frequently moments where a line delivery would elicit strong reactions from those watching. 

I particularly enjoyed the discussions we had after each act had concluded; the room was buzzing with remarks and observations that helped to clarify and enrich what we had just watched play out, and in the moments where the text dealt with sensitive subjects like sexism and racism, everyone approached the conversation with tact and diplomacy. 

The play does not make it easy to like any of the characters as most of them are manipulating and betraying one another, but because of this it was oh-so satisfying to see many of them get their comeuppance. It was also interesting to note that the play doesn’t present a traditional hero; everyone is corrupt and even the few moral characters like Cornelia and Giovanni are eventually compromised by the end. Powerful characters like Monticelsco and Francisco use the guise of religion and justice to sanction wicked deeds, and Flamineo is undone by his own greed and ambition. 

The experience of this staged reading really helped me to appreciate the nuance and intricacies within Webster’s writing and pointed out to me how much I missed when I read the play alone, and I’m grateful to Lazarus for inviting me to take part.

Joseph Scatley

Talent in the room

The White Devil began as a play where I found it difficult to understand the language. It took 2-3 reads before the R&D to make sense of it. I still had many questions that needed clarity. However, throughout the day, many questions were answered and the play was more entertaining than how I envisaged it. Certainly more entertaining and with elements humour than how I had read it initially - which is a positive.

The play touches on very important aspects of women’s role/ life in society during the Jacobean era and how they were controlled by men and revenge. The court scene was a powerful example of a woman standing up and voicing her views and opinions in a male dominated room - knowing the potential consequences of it.

Having the play read up on its feet made a significant difference as you could visually see how many characters would be in the scene and therefore giving it life.

There were certain parts that I felt may be unnecessary if it were to be staged as we discussed at the end of the day, which I agree.

There are still questions and perhaps parts I didn’t fully understand, but I certainly came away with a better knowledge and understanding of the characters and the play itself.

I must add, I was inspired by the talent in the room and how the actors fully went for it with their choices. It was inspiring and genuinely made my heart smile.

Chirague Amarchande

'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