![]() ![]() ![]() Sharing spaceĢThe play’s script immediately points to this multifaceted doubling as the widowed Duchess, her twin brother Ferdinand (David Dawson) and the older sibling Cardinal (James Garnon) metaphorically become « three fair medals, / Cast in one figure, of so different temper » (I.1.179-180) 1. The visual effects are audibly accompanied by the rounded sound of the cello, the three different types of lute and the harpsichord, which requires regular re-tuning as if to underline the necessary reunion of the otherwise disrespectful handling of traditional neo-classical unities of time and space, or bodily and spiritual orthodoxy, throughout Webster’s plot. This notion of circumference is echoed in the eight circle-shaped candle-lit chandeliers, which beam upon the stage and are progressively raised or lowered at different points in the action to give intensity, synchronization and strength on the otherwise barely propped theatre planks. 1Sitting, as I was, in the Balcony, in Upper Gallery along with the musicians, and sometimes with the actors themselves, gives a unique perspective upon the action, which is here framed in a tiny space and enclosed by a 360° group of spectators whose reactions are, at times, the only clue to thespian facial expression heading frontwards. ![]()
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