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00:00At the dawn of 1614, a play appeared on the London stage, a work that was dark, bloody,
00:21satirical, a masterpiece of the English Renaissance.
00:25The new play rivaled the greatest tragedies of the age.
00:31It held its own alongside such masterpieces as King Lear and Macbeth.
00:38It was called The Duchess of Malfi.
00:40Dost know me?
00:41Yes.
00:42Who am I?
00:43Thou art a box of wormseed at best.
00:47A horror show of a play full of torment and murder, with a disturbingly high body count
00:55and a twisted black humour.
00:59Now he begins to fear me.
01:03Doctor, he did not fear you thoroughly.
01:07I kept thinking if this was a film, Tarantino would direct it and it would be just blood
01:14everywhere and a female lead who's the heroine.
01:18A powerful leading lady, an astonishingly modern take on a real-life duchess who married beneath
01:25her and was horribly persecuted for it.
01:29It speaks directly to today's audiences, just as it spoke to those of the 17th century.
01:37A politician is the devil's quilted anvil.
01:44He fashions all sins on him and the blows are never heard.
01:49Its author succeeded in capturing the dark excesses of the Jacobean moment.
01:55The intrigue, the scandal, the malaise, the fascination with death.
02:01His name was John Webster.
02:03His work is a blend of beauty and cynicism.
02:08We think caged birds sing when indeed they cry.
02:15Occasionally you just think he's a little bit sinister and a little bit pervy and he actually
02:20gets off on all of this dwelling on evil.
02:23Webster's life is mysterious.
02:27We glimpse it in mere fragments.
02:30And the play he wrote is the result of a brief, brilliant flowering.
02:35The question is, who was this man and what, in his upbringing and experience, led him to
02:42create one of our greatest plays?
02:45As with all great mysteries, there are clues.
02:51Clues from Webster's life story, from the theater of the time, from life in London, from
02:57scandals at court.
02:58As a literary detective, I'll do my best to gather the evidence that will help us understand
03:06a work of genius, the Duchess of Malfi, and its creator, the mysterious Mr. Webster.
03:13A play is not created to be studied in print.
03:32The playwright's words take shape on the stage.
03:36In my investigation, one stage in particular holds the secret to the Duchess of Malfi.
03:45Blackfriars, London's greatest indoor playhouse.
03:50Now, a newly built theater takes us back to that moment of inception in 1614.
03:57This is it.
03:59The Globe's Sam Watermaker Playhouse.
04:02Blackfriars Theater Reimagined.
04:04Webster wrote the Duchess of Malfi for a space just like this.
04:11Here, we can get closer to Webster's work than we have ever come before.
04:16One reason, Malfi was chosen as this theater's inaugural production.
04:22In that space, there's something about the architecture and relationship with the audience
04:26that just unpeels the play immediately.
04:29It seems as if Webster has a visual vocabulary that's strikingly different than Shakespeare
04:35or Marlowe's or anyone else I've encountered in the period.
04:39I think that's true.
04:40I think there's a lot of arrangement of imagery.
04:43He loves his reveals.
04:45He loves his hammer horror effects.
04:47He loves the focus of the eye on the center.
04:54Webster matches the visual shocks with the grimmest of depictions of human nature.
05:00He has a dark reputation.
05:03Do we glimpse John Webster's own obsessions in his bleakest lines?
05:07Other sins only speak.
05:13Murder shrieks out.
05:17He's often painted as a troubled soul.
05:21In the film Shakespeare in Love, screenwriter Tom Stoppard plays with this image,
05:26showing Webster as a boy fixated on the gory bits in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.
05:32When I write plays, they'll be like Titus.
05:35You admire it?
05:36I liked it when they cut heads off and the daughter mutilated with knives.
05:42What's your name?
05:43John Webster.
05:45Here, kitty, kitty.
05:49Was Webster a juvenile mouse torturer?
05:53Unlikely.
05:55For those who spent time with his work, he is a more complex character.
06:01Did you think about or imagine what Webster was like in the course of playing the play?
06:05Who, what kind of man would write this kind of play?
06:08Webster's got this kind of, everyone thinks that he assumes that he was obsessed with, you know, incest and darkness and violence,
06:17which he obviously was, but so was Shakespeare.
06:19In my mind, Webster's kind of introvert and quite an odd man, but quite, quite as sort of super sensitive and intelligent.
06:31And I just always imagined him to be quite outside of society a little bit.
06:36On the trail of the mysterious Mr. Webster, what do we know for sure?
06:45Born about 1580 in the 22nd year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, eldest son of John Webster, gentleman, coachmaker.
06:57The family home was on Cow Lane, next to London's Smithfield Cattle Market.
07:04Today, not much remains there, but the centuries-old tradition of slaughter.
07:09But it wasn't only livestock that was slaughtered here.
07:15Since medieval times, this had been a place where criminals and traitors had been executed and dismembered.
07:22And every August, abutting Smithfield markets, Bartholomew Fair would be held,
07:27not just for cloth and merchandise, but for every odd bit of humanity you could cram in.
07:32Perverse things, freaks of nature, the very things that would have appealed to or perhaps appalled the young John Webster.
07:47So did the character of the place feed an unsettled mind?
07:53Did John Webster grow up delighting in the dark and horrible?
07:57Certainly Webster produces butchery of his own, as the Duchess is tormented by her mad brother Ferdinand.
08:06First, with a severed hand.
08:08What witchcraft doth he practice that he hath left a dead man's hand here?
08:13And then, the waxwork cadavers of her husband and child.
08:17He doth present you this sad spectacle, that now you know directly they are dead.
08:22Hereafter you may wisely cease to grieve for that which cannot be recovered.
08:27There is not between heaven and earth one wish I stay for after this.
08:33It's all rendered in language which can be vividly original,
08:37as Harriet Walter found when she played the Duchess in 1989.
08:43Three quarters of the work preparing myself was to just let that language seep into my skin
08:48and see what effect it had on me.
08:51The imagery is nightmarish.
08:53It's like a sort of Bosch painting.
08:56And it's sort of pox and plague and necromancy and nastiness.
09:01He paints the world with these really dark poetic images.
09:06This poetry of horror could only have come from the mind of John Webster.
09:12But there was no need to invent the tragedy.
09:15The Duchess of Malfi was a real woman.
09:21And Webster remained remarkably faithful to her tale.
09:25This is a copy of an image that hangs at the Louvre,
09:29which for 400 years was thought to be Giovanna de Aragona,
09:34the actual Duchess of Malfi.
09:37Turns out it's probably not her, but that doesn't matter much.
09:41In Webster's day, this was the Duchess.
09:45This is a tale of intrigue and murder in Renaissance Italy.
09:50Giovanna was of royal blood, daughter of the House of Aragon.
09:54Her first marriage made her Duchess of Malfi in 1493.
09:59And on the death of her husband, she became regent.
10:02She had two powerful brothers, a cardinal and a twin brother, Carlo,
10:08who becomes Ferdinand in the play.
10:10In 1510, she became the talk of Europe
10:13when she revealed that she had made a scandalous secret marriage to Antonio,
10:18her social inferior.
10:20She had concealed the birth of two children.
10:23Now, they fled, pursued by her brother's agents
10:27before she was captured and imprisoned in 1511,
10:31never to be seen again.
10:33There's something absolutely captivating about the story of the Duchess,
10:38a heady mix of romance, beauty, and scandal.
10:43Beyond the Mona Lisa-like gaze,
10:46the portrait contains a number of tantalizing clues.
10:49The maid, who may have served as a go-between,
10:53the pair of lions symbolizing the Aragonian brothers,
10:57the two knots in the curtain,
11:00perhaps representing the young Duchess's two marriages.
11:04There's much here to fuel a young writer's imagination.
11:09This was the tabloid sensation of the day.
11:13Just three years after her disappearance,
11:16the Duchess's story had already been published.
11:18A tale to be picked over by the chattering classes
11:22and put under the moral microscope.
11:25In 1567, the story of the Duchess first appeared in English,
11:30in this volume, The Palace of Pleasure.
11:33But it wasn't very kind to her,
11:36moralizing about her lustfulness.
11:39Now, we know that this was Webster's primary source,
11:42but we also know that he utterly transformed it,
11:46giving it greater psychological depth
11:49and resituating it within a murkier, more complicated moral universe.
11:55The Duchess becomes a beacon of virtue,
12:01led by love to deceive her family.
12:04And Webster reinvents her twin brother, Ferdinand,
12:08as a man obsessed with purity of blood,
12:11incestuously infatuated with his sister.
12:14He taunts her,
12:15and in the end,
12:17destroys her.
12:19Ferdinand employs the cynical malcontent,
12:23Bozola,
12:23to spy on the Duchess
12:25and do his dirty work.
12:27I give you that
12:28to live in the court here
12:32and observe the Duchess,
12:34to note all the particulars of her behavior,
12:37what suitors do solicit her for marriage
12:39and whom she best affects.
12:41She is a young widow.
12:42I would not have her marry again.
12:44No, sir.
12:44Do not you ask the reason.
12:47It's one of Webster's great talents,
12:50taking an idea,
12:51giving it new form,
12:53looking for the real motivations,
12:55the self-deception,
12:56the hypocrisy.
12:59Webster shows us Italian corruption writ large.
13:03A prince's court
13:04is like a common fountain
13:07whence should flow pure silver drops
13:10in general.
13:11But if it chants
13:12some cursed example
13:14poison it near the head,
13:16death and diseases
13:17through the whole land spread.
13:20But ultimately,
13:22the outrageous sexual mores
13:24and Machiavellian politics
13:26hint at the political scene in England
13:29at the start of the 17th century.
13:33In 1603,
13:36Elizabeth I had died
13:37without naming an heir.
13:38The new king
13:40was James VI of Scotland,
13:43now James I of England.
13:47Regime change never comes easily,
13:50especially when the Tudors
13:51had been in power for over a century.
13:54The new king
13:55hadn't been on England's throne for long
13:58before accusations of corruption,
14:00extravagance,
14:01and loose sexual morals
14:03began to circulate.
14:04The king had favourites,
14:07young men
14:08who were promoted
14:09to positions of power,
14:11apparently at his whim.
14:13James spent extravagantly,
14:16but failed to feed
14:17the people's appetite
14:18for royal splendor,
14:20appearing scornful of the crowds
14:22who flocked to see him.
14:24And his desire
14:25for union with Scotland
14:26seemed to threaten
14:28an invasion of ambitious Scots,
14:31dividing,
14:32perhaps overwhelming,
14:33the English court.
14:35It wasn't long
14:36before the cynicism
14:37and criticism
14:38found its way
14:39onto the English stage.
14:42The king
14:43did surprisingly little
14:45to protect his image.
14:47A year after his accession,
14:49the French ambassador
14:50recorded with horror
14:51that James' wife,
14:53Anne of Denmark,
14:54was seen openly laughing
14:56as a comic actor on stage
14:58impersonated her husband.
14:59It was the queen's
15:01own company
15:02that staged
15:03the most scurrilous
15:05attacks on the king.
15:07They performed
15:09at Blackfriars Playhouse
15:10in front of members
15:11of the power elite.
15:13It must have been
15:14an extraordinary space,
15:17the crucible
15:17of a new,
15:19more biting satire.
15:20So the next step
15:24in my investigation
15:25takes me
15:26to Worcester College, Oxford,
15:28in search
15:29of some rare
15:30surviving drawings
15:31which have allowed
15:32the globe
15:33to refashion Blackfriars.
15:36This is thrilling.
15:38This is the closest
15:39I've ever been
15:40to these 17th century drawings
15:43which offer us
15:44the best examples
15:45we have
15:46of what an indoor
15:47Jacobean playhouse
15:48looked like.
15:49They were executed
15:51by John Webb,
15:52a student
15:52of the great designer
15:54Inigo Jones.
15:55And they show us
15:56how radically different
15:58the indoor stages were
16:00from the outdoor playhouses
16:01that could hold
16:02upward of 3,000 spectators.
16:04Here,
16:05only four,
16:06at most 500 spectators
16:08would be crammed
16:09into this tiny space.
16:13Like the outdoor theaters,
16:15the seating curves
16:16around the sides
16:17of the stage.
16:19There are three entrances
16:25with a balcony above
16:28for the musicians.
16:32Unlike the older playhouses,
16:34the audience
16:35are within touching distance
16:37of the players.
16:39It would have been
16:39intimate
16:40and dark.
16:41and this added something new
16:45to the playwright's armory.
16:47Lighting.
16:49In the Duchess of Malfi,
16:51Webster shows
16:52an acute awareness
16:53of the power
16:54of illumination.
16:56The Duchess of Malfi is obsessed
17:00with light and dark,
17:01it's obsessed with shadows.
17:02There is a whole host
17:03of very specific stage directions
17:05which play completely
17:06into that space.
17:08Take hence the lights.
17:11Details of lighting
17:13find their way
17:14into the dialogue
17:15and allow Webster
17:16to conjure up
17:17the most dramatic
17:19of scenes.
17:20He comes in the night
17:21and prays you gently
17:23neither torch nor taper
17:24shine in your chamber.
17:26He will kiss your hand
17:27and reconcile himself,
17:29but for his vow
17:30he dare not see you.
17:31At his pleasure
17:32put out the lights.
17:44And it says
17:45turn all the lights out
17:46and then he tapers
17:47and I don't want
17:48to see a single one
17:49so you just follow
17:49the direction of the text
17:51and there you have it.
17:53But we read the play
17:54and we read those
17:55stage directions
17:56but we don't experience
17:57the darkness.
17:58What happened the first time
17:59you just killed
18:00the candles there?
18:03Well, you get very
18:04purist about dark
18:05because actually
18:05the first time
18:06we took everything out
18:06it wasn't quite dark enough.
18:07So much light bleeds
18:09into our lives
18:10without us realising it
18:11that actually
18:12you try and take the light
18:12and then there's
18:13a little thin bit of light
18:14there, a thin bit of light
18:14there, a thin bit of light
18:15there, a thin bit of light
18:15there.
18:16So we ended up
18:16like light hunters
18:17just killing light
18:18all around the auditorium
18:19to get it as dark
18:21as it possibly could be.
18:22But when you got
18:23to the place
18:23it was extraordinary.
18:24And then a huge number
18:27of other games
18:28open up the moment
18:29you go to complete black.
18:30because then
18:31any form of light
18:32be it a single candle
18:34lighting a face
18:34be it a blaze
18:36of votive candles
18:37as there are
18:38underneath the corpses
18:39of Antonio and Son
18:40they all have
18:42this profound
18:43and very deliberate
18:45very exciting effect.
18:52In this glowing jewel box
18:55of a space
18:56Webster could write
18:57with a new emphasis
18:58he could draw the eye
19:00change the focus.
19:03He was fascinated
19:04by realism in acting
19:05and some of his scenes
19:07would have felt
19:08shockingly intimate
19:09like this one
19:11in the Duchess's bedchamber.
19:13Bring me the casket
19:15hither in the glass
19:16you get no lodging
19:17here tonight my lord.
19:18Indeed?
19:19I must persuade one.
19:21Very good.
19:22I hope in time
19:23to grow into a custom
19:25that noblemen
19:26shall come with
19:26cap and knee
19:27to purchase
19:28a night's lodging
19:29of their wives.
19:29The boudoir setting
19:33turns the focus
19:34to the Duchess
19:35as a modern woman
19:36of fashion.
19:37In Jacobean England
19:38elite ladies
19:40brush their faces
19:41with pearl dust
19:42to give
19:42an extraordinary luminosity.
19:45With added candlelight
19:46makeup
19:47becomes a vital
19:48ingredient in the play.
19:50You kind of twinkle
19:51in the playhouse
19:53and so far
19:55some of the experiments
19:55we've done
19:56and certainly
19:56the plays
19:58that we've staged
19:58we've seen
19:59actors twinkling.
20:01And you don't need
20:02a huge amount
20:03of white makeup
20:04when you've got
20:04pearl dusting
20:06on your face.
20:07I'm curious whether
20:08anything having
20:09to do with cosmetics
20:11changed your understanding
20:12of the play at all.
20:14Yes.
20:14Being in such
20:15an intimate space
20:16you feel like
20:16you're in the Duchess's room
20:18particularly when
20:19she's sitting
20:20at her dressing table
20:21at her vanity table
20:22and looking in the mirror
20:23and talking about
20:24her appearance.
20:25Doth not the colour
20:26of my hair
20:26again to change?
20:27When I wax grey
20:30I shall have
20:30all the court
20:31powder their hair
20:32with Aris
20:32to be like me.
20:34She's kind of
20:35a vain character
20:36in a really positive way
20:38though.
20:39I think Webster's
20:39saying something
20:40about vanity
20:41maybe not being
20:42as bad
20:43as you think it is.
20:44For me
20:44she is
20:45the ultimate chick.
20:47She's not perfect
20:48and at the beginning
20:49she's young
20:50and impetuous
20:51and sexual
20:53and sensual
20:55and a young woman
20:56that's kind of
20:57and as the play progresses
20:59she becomes a woman.
21:00She's alive
21:01she's vibrant
21:02she's young and fresh
21:03and that's her
21:04she's somebody
21:05that loves life
21:06and beauty.
21:08For Webster
21:09the Duchess's
21:10inner virtue
21:11is mirrored
21:12in her outer radiance.
21:14I think we all
21:16recognize that
21:17she's this
21:17virtuous character
21:18and what's interesting
21:19is that she doesn't
21:20adhere to the ideals
21:22of Renaissance womanhood.
21:23She's not
21:23chaste really.
21:25She's not silent
21:25and she certainly
21:26isn't obedient
21:27but she's virtuous.
21:29I think Webster
21:30is very concerned
21:31with the issue
21:32of what you can see
21:33and what's beneath.
21:40Appearances
21:41were vital
21:42at Blackfriars.
21:43Webster
21:44was a regular here.
21:46He understood
21:46a space
21:47where the audience
21:48was every bit
21:49as visible
21:49as the players.
21:52In a traditional
21:53theatre now
21:54you wouldn't see
21:54the audience
21:55they wouldn't be lit
21:56we would be lit
21:58but they were lit
21:59as much as we were
22:00and the fact
22:03that they are
22:03observing one another
22:05even from before
22:06we come on stage
22:07means that this
22:08sort of tension
22:09is created.
22:10The Duchess of Malfi
22:11is about
22:11about oppression
22:14about being boxed in
22:16and caged
22:18and everybody
22:20sort of observing
22:21one another
22:22and so therefore
22:23the fact that the audience
22:24was so very much
22:25there felt right.
22:29This was for the most part
22:31a more elite audience.
22:34Actors playing courtiers
22:35on stage
22:36might find themselves
22:37addressing real ones
22:39well-heeled gentlemen
22:41and their wives
22:42law students
22:43aristocrats
22:43crammed together.
22:46Admission
22:47was steep.
22:48The cheapest seat
22:49at sixpence
22:50cost six times more
22:53than admission
22:53to a public playhouse
22:55like the Globe.
22:56You could pay even more
22:58and sit on a stool
22:59at the edge
23:00of the stage
23:00a great way
23:02for a well-dressed
23:03gallant
23:04to see
23:04and be seen.
23:08Here
23:08fashion
23:10played a starring role.
23:13Even the actors
23:14were luxuriously
23:15dressed.
23:17Not in costumes
23:18but in clothes
23:20that might
23:20not so long ago
23:21have graced
23:22the backs
23:23of the very nobles
23:24now watching.
23:25So I'm trying
23:28to imagine
23:29how a garment
23:29like this
23:30would have ended up
23:31on the Jacobean stage.
23:34Rich Englishmen
23:35would sometimes
23:36give clothes
23:37away to their servants
23:39as a gift
23:40and of course
23:42the servant
23:42might not be
23:43of the sort of status
23:44where he would feel
23:45he could wear
23:46the garment
23:47so the servant
23:48might then go
23:49to a company
23:49of actors
23:50and sell it to them.
23:52As the indoor stage
23:53came to prominence
23:54elite fashions
23:56were also changing
23:57becoming
23:58better suited
23:59to evening rebels.
24:01I remember
24:02Sir Francis Bacon
24:04saying something
24:05about
24:05what shows
24:06best by
24:07candlelight.
24:09He writes this
24:10in a piece
24:10called On Masks
24:11and the colours
24:12that Bacon
24:13thought worked
24:14best by candlelight
24:15were things like
24:17he mentions
24:18white
24:18carnation
24:19and a kind
24:20of seawater green
24:21which obviously
24:22in dim lighting
24:24are very effective
24:25and more visually
24:26arresting.
24:27So this garment
24:28would fit that category.
24:30Yeah, absolutely.
24:31This is made
24:32of an off-white linen
24:33with floating silk threads
24:36and then it's striped
24:38with silver.
24:39So the silver's
24:40faded a bit.
24:41Well, now
24:42the silver threads
24:43are almost black
24:45but I've brought here
24:47some modern silver thread
24:49and if I just
24:51sort of hold
24:52this close
24:52you can see
24:53it was bright silver
24:55and off-white
24:56and the silk threads
24:57would have shone.
24:59The Duchess
25:00could glisten
25:01in her gowns
25:02of pale satin.
25:03Spangles and lace
25:04could catch the light
25:05and the white of roughs
25:07frame the face.
25:09Ha ha ha ha ha!
25:10Webster enlisted
25:11these details
25:12in his careful staging.
25:14What I love about this
25:15is it's precisely
25:16the kind of garment
25:18that the Duchess
25:19might have worn
25:19in a more informal scene
25:21and I love the flair
25:23of it as well.
25:24It is a loose garment
25:25so it's suitable
25:26for disguising a pregnancy.
25:28Webster uses clothing
25:30to explain how the Duchess
25:32could keep two pregnancies
25:33a secret
25:34in the enclosed world
25:36of the Malfi court.
25:38I observe
25:40our Duchess
25:41is sick a days
25:43and contrary
25:44to our Italian fashion
25:46wears a loose body.
25:48gout.
25:49Bosola is the keen-eyed observer
25:51who brings us
25:52this information.
25:53He's the melancholy spy
25:55seeking out
25:56the Duchess's secrets
25:57on behalf of her brothers.
26:00He's part Iago,
26:01part Hamlet,
26:03introspective
26:04but also dangerous.
26:07It's tempting
26:08to see something
26:09of Webster
26:10in Bosola.
26:11The clever man,
26:13the outsider
26:14existing on the margins
26:16of the court.
26:18Webster,
26:18more than most
26:19of his fellow playwrights,
26:21seems to have lived
26:21a divided life.
26:30Webster's family
26:31were coachmakers
26:32and he appears
26:34to have kept up
26:35the day job,
26:36leading one satirist
26:37to mock him
26:38as the playwright
26:39Cartwright.
26:42In fact,
26:43it was an exciting field.
26:45Coaches
26:45had only appeared
26:46in England
26:47in the 1560s,
26:48at first
26:49as an expensive novelty.
26:51By the start
26:52of the 17th century,
26:54business was booming.
26:57Aristocrats
26:58and well-to-do merchants
26:59were favored customers.
27:02So too
27:02were prostitutes
27:03who saw the potential
27:04for providing
27:05services on the move.
27:08Webster's family business
27:09thrived on tragedy.
27:12They made much
27:13of their money
27:13providing coaches
27:15and carts
27:15for elaborate
27:16and expensive
27:17funeral processions.
27:20Young John Webster
27:21must have thought
27:22that life revolved
27:23around sex,
27:25status,
27:25and death.
27:28And perhaps it did.
27:30These were the dark
27:31obsessions of the age.
27:39Death stalked
27:41the people of London.
27:43Plague
27:43had swept away
27:44one out of seven
27:45in 1593
27:46and would again
27:47a decade later
27:48in 1603.
27:52Survivors
27:52had to walk
27:53past houses,
27:55their plague-stricken
27:56inmates
27:56entombed inside,
27:58with red crosses
28:00painted on their doors
28:01under the chilling
28:02warning,
28:03Lord have mercy.
28:06May 1608,
28:09a Jacobean
28:10domestic tragedy.
28:12One that tells
28:13the story
28:13of a man
28:14who buried
28:15one wife,
28:16then a second,
28:17the third,
28:18a widow outlives him,
28:20the three women together
28:21having been preceded
28:23by three children
28:24to the grave.
28:25looking at this,
28:27you get a sense
28:28of how palpable
28:29death was
28:30for the Jacobean's,
28:31how close
28:33you could hold it
28:34in your hands.
28:38The swaddled baby's heads
28:40rest on skulls.
28:43It calls to mind
28:45Ferdinand's line
28:46in the Duchess.
28:48Cover her face.
28:49Mine eyes dazzle.
28:51She died young.
28:52For all the apparent
28:57beauty of that line,
28:59it comes
29:00at a horrific moment
29:01in the play.
29:03The Duchess's
29:03brother Ferdinand
29:04has finally
29:05had her killed.
29:07Cover her face.
29:11Oh, my eyes dazzle.
29:14She died young.
29:15Simon Russell Beale
29:18played Ferdinand
29:19in 1995
29:20and found the part
29:21especially disturbing.
29:25Mine eyes dazzle.
29:27She died young.
29:30It's the dazzle
29:31that's the,
29:32I mean,
29:33it's such an odd.
29:35Did it turn
29:36the character for you?
29:37Sometimes when critics
29:38talk about that line,
29:39they feel that
29:40Ferdinand's
29:42snapped out of it
29:43or there's...
29:44No, because I think
29:46that word dazzle
29:47is pathological.
29:48It's wrong.
29:50It's not...
29:51It's not how you react
29:53to a dead body,
29:55I don't think.
29:56And as an association
29:57in my mind
29:58with sort of various
29:58religious iconography,
30:01you know,
30:03ascensions and...
30:04It's like she becomes
30:06Elijah or...
30:07Christ ascending
30:10or...
30:10It's a weird line.
30:15In this honor killing,
30:17Ferdinand
30:18takes his final revenge
30:19on his sister
30:20for her covert marriage.
30:23But the carnage
30:24doesn't end here.
30:26By the end of the play,
30:27all the major characters
30:28will have died.
30:31The Duchess of Mafi
30:32represents perhaps
30:33the most extreme example
30:35of a genre
30:36that took the Elizabethan
30:38and Jacobean stage
30:39by storm.
30:41Revenge tragedy.
30:43It all began
30:44in the 1580s
30:45with a hugely
30:46successful play.
30:50The Spanish tragedy
30:51by Thomas Kidd.
30:54The most popular
30:55and influential
30:57tragedy of the age.
30:59First stage
30:59when Webster
31:00was just a boy.
31:01I'm holding
31:02in my hands
31:03an incredibly rare
31:05early printed
31:06quarter of the play
31:07and its woodcut
31:09illustration
31:09tells it all.
31:12Murder,
31:13grief,
31:15madness,
31:16and revenge.
31:21The Spanish tragedy
31:23was revived
31:24time and again
31:25and Webster
31:26must have seen it.
31:27But it was joined
31:28by new plays
31:29Around the turn
31:31of the century
31:31Shakespeare gave us
31:33Hamlet
31:33which also leaves
31:34a stage
31:35full of corpses
31:36but added
31:37deep psychological
31:39introspection.
31:42And when Webster
31:43brought revenge
31:43tragedy into
31:44the Jacobean age
31:45he could draw
31:46on a growing
31:47culture of suspicion
31:48much of it
31:50linked to
31:51religious hatred.
31:53In the 16th century
31:55England had been
31:56shaken by religious
31:58change
31:58veering from
31:59Catholicism
32:00to Protestantism
32:02and back
32:03riven by
32:04persecutions
32:05and burnings.
32:06Now in
32:07Protestant England
32:08fear of religious
32:10terror
32:10was once again
32:11on the rise.
32:15Religion plays
32:16its role
32:17in the Duchess
32:18of Malfi.
32:19The Catholic
32:20Cardinal is
32:21conspiratorial,
32:22corrupt,
32:23and openly
32:24consorts with
32:24his mistress
32:25Julia
32:25whom he
32:27eventually
32:27murders
32:28by having
32:29her kiss
32:29a poison
32:30Bible.
32:36A Venetian
32:37Catholic priest
32:38found himself
32:39in the audience
32:40for one of the
32:40early performances
32:41and complained,
32:43all this they do
32:45in derision
32:46of ecclesiastical
32:47pomp
32:48which in this
32:49kingdom
32:49is scorned
32:50and hated
32:51mortally.
32:52In an age
32:55of scandal
32:56and plot
32:57the most famous
32:58terrorist incident
32:59of them all
33:00the attempt
33:01by Guy Fawkes
33:02to blow up
33:03Parliament
33:03gave Catholicism
33:05an even more
33:06threatening face.
33:08There it is
33:09the iconic
33:11image of the
33:12gunpowder plot
33:131605
33:14the end of the
33:16honeymoon for
33:16King James
33:17I'm afraid.
33:18What changed
33:19after this moment?
33:20What I think
33:21it did
33:22was create
33:22a sense
33:24of an enemy
33:25within
33:25of people
33:27you couldn't
33:27be sure of
33:28and for somebody
33:29like Webster
33:30or for the
33:30dramatists
33:31it became
33:31an easy
33:32button to press
33:33and the
33:34anti-Catholic
33:34button
33:35and the
33:35plays
33:36have those
33:37suspicious
33:38cardinals
33:39and all the
33:39rest of it
33:40which feed
33:42off this
33:43kind of
33:44culture
33:44of suspicion.
33:46And paranoia
33:47almost.
33:50so we have
33:51a sense
33:51of how
33:51the Duchess
33:52of Malfi
33:53fits into
33:53its times.
33:55But how did
33:55Webster
33:56son of a
33:57coachmaker
33:57come to
33:58write this
33:59play
33:59that so
34:00brilliantly
34:00spoke to
34:01the moment?
34:10A vital clue
34:12to his
34:12experience
34:13and interests
34:14is here
34:15at the
34:15Middle Temple
34:16where Webster
34:17studied law.
34:20So we're
34:20looking at
34:21a great
34:21document here
34:22John Webster's
34:24entry
34:25in
34:26August
34:271598
34:28Master
34:30John Webster
34:31admitted
34:32to
34:33the Middle
34:34Temple.
34:36Tell me
34:37what this
34:39document
34:39tells us
34:40and what
34:41it would have
34:41meant for
34:42John Webster
34:42to have
34:43come to
34:43the Society
34:44at the
34:44Middle Temple.
34:45Well it
34:46would have
34:46been stellar
34:47for him.
34:47It was
34:48a way
34:49of moving
34:50up the
34:50social ladder.
34:51And this
34:52was a place
34:52to make
34:53connections.
34:53This was
34:54Facebook,
34:54Twitter,
34:55the lot
34:56of the
34:57time.
34:57And there
34:58were lots
34:58of people
34:59who came
34:59here who
35:00had absolutely
35:01no intention
35:01of practicing
35:02the law.
35:03The elderly
35:04benchers who
35:05ran the inn
35:05complained
35:06frequently that
35:07they're not
35:07studying enough
35:08and they're not
35:08wearing sober
35:09clothes and their
35:10hair's too
35:11long.
35:11So if they're
35:12not hitting
35:12the books,
35:13they're not
35:13studying law,
35:14what are they
35:14spending their
35:15days doing?
35:16Well they
35:17went to the
35:17theater a lot.
35:19Their poems
35:20explain how
35:21they would go
35:21and watch a
35:22law case in
35:24Westminster Hall
35:25in the morning
35:26and then in the
35:26afternoon they
35:27would make
35:28their way down
35:29to the South
35:30Bank, maybe
35:31watch a bear
35:31baiting, have
35:32a bit of a
35:33beer, maybe
35:34resort to a
35:35prostitute, and
35:36then they'd
35:37watch a play.
35:38Perfect for a
35:39playwright in
35:40training then.
35:41Absolutely.
35:42The Middle
35:43Temple gave
35:44Webster access
35:44to a literary
35:45culture with
35:46other young
35:47playwrights,
35:48writers experimenting
35:49with satirical
35:50political themes.
35:52But just as
35:53important must
35:54have been the
35:55leisure time
35:55those student
35:56days gave
35:57him.
35:59Time he could
36:00spend if he
36:00chose at the
36:02most famous
36:02theater of all,
36:04built the year
36:05after Webster
36:06started his
36:06studies, the
36:08Globe, Shakespeare's
36:09Playhouse.
36:12Webster was not
36:13only a budding
36:13playwright, but
36:14like many at the
36:15Middle Temple, a
36:16passionate playgoer.
36:18In his plays,
36:19especially his early
36:20ones, he borrows so
36:22much and so closely
36:24from what he had
36:25heard in the theater
36:25that he must have
36:26been taking notes.
36:28It's easy to imagine
36:30a 20-year-old Webster
36:31going to the newly
36:33built Globe and
36:34seeing Hamlet and
36:35Julius Caesar and
36:36transcribing memorable
36:38passages into his
36:39commonplace book.
36:46Another book gives
36:48us our next clue, an
36:49extraordinary document
36:50that provides rich
36:52insight into the
36:53workings of the
36:54Elizabethan theater.
36:56Impresario Philip
36:57Henslow recorded in
36:58meticulous detail the
37:00purchase of props and
37:01costumes, box office
37:03takings, and payments
37:04to playwrights.
37:05In May 1602, we find
37:08Anthony Munday and
37:10Michael Drayton
37:10collaborating with
37:12Thomas Middleton and
37:13John Webster, age 22,
37:16our first glimpse of
37:18him working on a play
37:19now sadly lost, called
37:21Caesar's Fall.
37:24Webster caught a huge
37:25break in 1603.
37:27Until now, he'd been
37:29writing collaboratively,
37:30a wonderful apprenticeship
37:31with a group of
37:32veteran playwrights over
37:34at the Rose Theater
37:35across the road, but this
37:36would be his first shot
37:38at writing for the
37:40greatest group of
37:40actors in the land,
37:42Shakespeare's company
37:42at the Globe.
37:44Here's how it happened.
37:47Fellow playwright John
37:48Marston wrote a runaway
37:50hit, The Malkin Tent,
37:51for a rival company.
37:53That company then made
37:54the mistake of stealing a
37:56play from Shakespeare's
37:57company, who retaliated
37:59trade by stealing the
38:00malcontent.
38:04And Webster was given
38:06the job of reworking the
38:08play for its new airing.
38:10His main contribution
38:11was a brilliantly
38:12self-referential
38:13introduction, in which
38:15the famous actors of
38:16Shakespeare's company
38:17appear on stage as
38:19themselves.
38:21Maybe Webster was even
38:22mocking himself in the
38:24character of an enthusiastic
38:26playgoer, a bit of a fan of
38:28the actors, and such a
38:30regular of performances,
38:31he'd written down all the
38:33jokes.
38:34The play appeared in print
38:35with Webster's name on it,
38:36and he must have thought
38:38he had arrived.
38:39His moment had come.
38:43Soon, he had two
38:45successful comedies under
38:46his belt, written with
38:48Thomas Decker, satirizing
38:50the lives and loves of
38:51London citizens.
38:54Webster had followed a
38:56well-trodden path from law
38:58to the playhouses.
39:00He'd worked with some of
39:01the best.
39:02But he wasn't really cut
39:03out for the world of
39:04comedy.
39:05His vision was too subtle.
39:09And back at Middle Temple,
39:10we can find intimations,
39:12the kind of theatricality,
39:14that really inspired him.
39:20This picture almost surely
39:23hung here when Webster was
39:24a student at the Middle
39:25Temple.
39:27It feels like a scene from
39:29an indoor Jacobean play
39:30with its rich colors,
39:33stylized gestures, and
39:35tight composition.
39:37It's the judgment of
39:39Solomon.
39:41Solomon has to resolve a
39:43case where two women each
39:44claim that the living child
39:45is hers.
39:47He orders that the child
39:48be cut in half, then
39:50closely observes the
39:51reactions of both mothers
39:53to determine who the true
39:55mother is.
39:57A strikingly dramatic image
39:59and a child cut in half,
40:01just Webster's style.
40:04But as to the message,
40:06the text panels advise the
40:07students to look at the
40:09biblical scene and learn
40:10this mighty lesson of just
40:13decision.
40:14I can imagine Webster
40:17looking past this pious
40:19moralizing about wisdom and
40:21judgment.
40:22The poet T.S.
40:23Eliot famously described
40:25Webster as a man who saw
40:26the skull beneath the skin.
40:30It's easy to imagine Webster
40:32looking at this painting and
40:33seeing the grief and suffering
40:35just below the surface.
40:37Two desperate mothers and a
40:39ruler so eager to show how
40:41smart he is, he's willing to
40:43risk the life of a child.
40:46And I wonder if that dead
40:48child, that waxy figure at the
40:50center of this painting,
40:52didn't lodge in Webster's
40:53memory.
40:58Webster would be at his
41:00greatest when he delved into
41:02moments of human torment, but
41:04he wasn't quite there yet.
41:08The years of Webster's late
41:09twenties ought to be
41:11revealing, showing the writer's
41:13transition to maturity.
41:15We know a little of his life.
41:17In 1606, he married the
41:19pregnant 16-year-old Sarah
41:22Pinnell.
41:23But as to writing, after 1605,
41:27nothing.
41:28No new plays appeared for an
41:31almost biblical seven years.
41:34It's one of the great puzzles in
41:36Webster's life story.
41:38What was he doing at this time?
41:41At least, Shakespeare's lost
41:43years took place before he
41:45became a dramatist.
41:47Webster's occurred at a crucial
41:49moment in his playwriting career.
41:52Perhaps he was pulled back into
41:54helping out with the family
41:55coach business, or he might have
41:57been wrestling with a massive
41:59writer's block.
42:00We just don't know.
42:03As frustrating as they are,
42:05these years seem to have been
42:06pivotal for Webster, because when
42:09he came back, his writing was
42:11darker, more powerful, reveling
42:14in death, madness, and
42:17depression.
42:19I do account this world but a
42:24dog kennel.
42:26I'm always wary of trying to
42:29crawl into the mind of somebody
42:31writing a play written 400 years
42:32ago, but let's allow ourselves a
42:36bit of speculation.
42:37Could you write a play like The
42:38Duchess of Malfi and not suffer
42:42from depression?
42:43There's a line, life's a dog
42:45kennel.
42:48It seems like every line in that
42:49play is some version of that.
42:51And I remember after about four
42:53weeks of playing, thinking, is it?
42:56Is it?
42:56I'm coming up to this particular line
42:58and every night I'm thinking, is
43:00that really true?
43:00Is it really a dog kennel?
43:02I know it's a dangerous game, but I
43:04don't know how you invest it to make
43:08it so good without feeling it.
43:12I know no other play in which so many
43:15characters are crippled with
43:17depression and madness.
43:20Ferdinand slides into a madness so
43:22severe he thinks himself a wolf.
43:24His brother, the cardinal, has
43:27nightmarish visions.
43:29And Boswell's every word and deed
43:31is shaped by his chronic depression.
43:34It's fitting, then, that these
43:36depressed tormentors try to drive
43:38the Duchess to distraction through
43:41the singing and dancing of madmen.
43:54In a brilliant piece of stagecraft,
44:04Webster, anticipating the Duchess's
44:07own swan song, writes a haunting
44:09lyric, oh, let us howl.
44:12And for the dismal music he required,
44:15turned to Robert Johnson, whose music
44:17for this song miraculously survives.
44:21O let us howl some heavy note,
44:43some deadly dogged heart.
44:54He penned something that's full of
44:56weird harmonic changes, abrupt changes
45:00of tempo, again, something that we're
45:02quite used to these days.
45:03But imagine a time when, if you start
45:05a pav and it starts in the same tempo
45:07that it ends, and you're playing a piece
45:09that switches moods so abruptly and
45:12so dramatically, that's how he
45:15suggests this madness.
45:18Music was a defining feature of the
45:20Jacobean Indoor Theatre, not just
45:23influencing the mood of the audience,
45:25but also shaping the entire
45:27theatrical experience.
45:29You could hear music for up to an hour
45:31before the performance.
45:32At Blackfriars.
45:33Yeah, Blackfriars just extemporised
45:35by the ensemble.
45:44And then during the production,
45:47the ensemble might provide music
45:49for dancing in between the acts
45:50because they had to trim the candles.
45:53So the music would provide some cover,
45:57which is something that they weren't
45:58accustomed to in the outdoor theatre.
46:00The outdoor theatre is a very short play
46:02and everything ran pell-mell without break
46:04from one end to the other
46:05as fast as they could.
46:11In the outdoor playhouses,
46:13it wasn't only the music that lacked subtlety.
46:17The crowd often had rather different
46:19expectations of the play itself,
46:21as Webster found to his cost.
46:26In 1612, the first of Webster's
46:29two great plays first appeared on stage.
46:33The White Devil.
46:34The play tells the story of a Venetian lady
46:36put on trial for murder
46:38after her lover, the Duke of Bracchiano,
46:41has her husband killed.
46:43It's based on a series of sensational
46:46real-life murders that took place
46:4827 years earlier.
46:50Like the Duchess of Malfi,
46:52it was a revenge tragedy
46:54with a powerful female lead
46:56full of corruption, sex, and murder.
47:00Unlike the Duchess of Malfi,
47:02it was a box office disaster.
47:06Webster's introduction
47:07to the printed edition of The White Devil
47:09is deeply revealing
47:12of what went wrong
47:14and how defensive he was.
47:17As far as Webster was concerned,
47:18the problem wasn't with his play,
47:20but with everything else.
47:21He blamed the wintry weather,
47:24the theatre,
47:24the Red Bull and Clark and Well,
47:26an outdoor playhouse
47:27with a reputation for rowdiness,
47:29and he even accused playgoers
47:31of being insufficiently discerning.
47:35Most of the people
47:36who come to that playhouse
47:37resemble those ignorant asses
47:39who, visiting stationer's shops,
47:41their use is not to inquire
47:42for good books,
47:44but new books.
47:47Webster also took the unusual step
47:50of praising one of the actors by name,
47:52but as for the rest of the company,
47:54Queen Anne's men,
47:55he didn't think them good enough
47:57to do his play justice.
48:01Actors were important to Webster.
48:04Their talents helped to shape a play.
48:07When it came to Webster's masterpiece,
48:10The Duchess of Malfi,
48:11everything came together.
48:13The New Indoor Theatre,
48:15the light,
48:16the music,
48:17and of course,
48:18The King's Men,
48:20Shakespeare's Company.
48:25Here's evidence
48:26that Webster was working
48:27with the best actors in the land,
48:30if not the world.
48:32The first printed quarto
48:33of The Duchess of Malfi
48:35from 1623,
48:37which amazingly
48:38contains an actor's list
48:40the first time
48:41any quarto had done so.
48:43And what an all-star cast it is.
48:47Lohan,
48:48Condal,
48:49Burbage,
48:50and here,
48:53Richard Sharp,
48:54an 18 to 20-year-old,
48:56who's the first actor we know
48:58to have played
48:59The Duchess.
49:08That's right,
49:09a young man
49:10playing a woman.
49:11Real woman
49:12wouldn't appear
49:13on the public stage
49:14in England
49:14for another 50 years.
49:18But things were changing
49:19for the boy actors,
49:21where once they had been
49:22mere children.
49:23Now the female roles
49:25were played
49:25by young men
49:26who had matured
49:27in the public eye.
49:29It meant
49:29that they could take on
49:31more challenging parts,
49:32like Lady Macbeth
49:34and Cleopatra.
49:37And now,
49:38The Duchess of Malfi,
49:40written for a man
49:41to perform,
49:42but which has become
49:43one of the greatest roles
49:44for women actors.
49:50The way he's written
49:51The Duchess
49:52is so advanced
49:54in terms of
49:55how he thought,
49:56and if you think
49:57a man would have played
49:58that part,
49:59but it's so complex.
50:03It's a brilliant female part
50:05written with great sensitivity.
50:08And even when you play her,
50:09you never quite
50:10can reach her.
50:12And so I think
50:13that's why the play
50:14continues,
50:15because she's
50:16like a goddess,
50:18but without being perfect.
50:20I think what Webster's
50:23really trying to do
50:24is put a real flesh-and-blood
50:26human female
50:27centre stage,
50:29which is unusual.
50:30And someone who isn't
50:32just somebody's wife
50:34or lover
50:35or mother
50:36or daughter,
50:37which I have to say
50:38Shakespeare tends to do,
50:40you know,
50:40and I can't think
50:41of a Shakespeare play
50:42who has the title role
50:44of a female.
50:45I mean...
50:46Who doesn't share one.
50:47There's double billing.
50:48There's Juliet and Romeo,
50:49there's Anthony Cleopatra,
50:51but there isn't...
50:52I don't think
50:53I can think of a play
50:54where it's called
50:56The Countess of This
50:57or the Princess of That.
51:00There's no doubt
51:01that the role
51:02of the Duchess
51:03holds the key
51:04to the power
51:05of the Duchess of Mafia
51:06as a play.
51:08It's easy to be drawn
51:09into Webster's
51:10dark cynicism,
51:12his mastery of staging
51:13and his distinctive
51:14way with words.
51:16But to solve
51:17the mystery
51:18of the creation
51:20of Webster's masterpiece,
51:22we need to understand
51:24where the Duchess
51:25herself came from.
51:26We know
51:27that she was based
51:28on a real woman,
51:29but the inspiration
51:30for Webster's Duchess
51:32came not only
51:33from Renaissance Italy,
51:34but also from
51:35his own time and place.
51:38Once again,
51:39part of the answer
51:40comes from
51:41the theater itself.
51:43The audience
51:43at Blackfriars
51:44would have contained
51:45a higher proportion
51:46of women,
51:47or at least
51:48more respectable ones,
51:49than the outdoor theaters.
51:51They must have enjoyed
51:52seeing female protagonists
51:54on the stage.
51:55And in the years
51:57before Malfi appeared,
51:59a series of scandals
52:00helped to change
52:01the popular image
52:02of women's motives
52:04and desires.
52:06Take Francis Howard,
52:08daughter of one of the
52:09most powerful families
52:10in the land.
52:12In May 1613,
52:12she filed for an annulment
52:16of her marriage
52:16to the Earl of Essex.
52:18She claimed he was
52:19unable to consummate
52:20the match.
52:21Soon word spread
52:23that she was planning
52:24to marry the king's
52:25favorite, Robert Carr.
52:28The Archbishop of Canterbury
52:29spoke out against her,
52:30but the king intervened
52:32and her petition
52:33was granted.
52:34There's something
52:35both alluring
52:37about her gaze
52:38and, I suspect,
52:41threatening.
52:42This is a different
52:43kind of woman
52:45than we've seen
52:46in Tudor portraiture.
52:48In her own conduct,
52:52we might see
52:53her right
52:54to self-assertion.
52:55Others might have seen
52:56the immorality
52:58of the court
52:58writ large.
53:00So I think
53:00the divided perception
53:02that one might have
53:03of her
53:03really says something
53:04about the way
53:05in which she epitomizes
53:07not just the court,
53:09but the attitudes
53:10to the court.
53:11It would connect
53:12perhaps with
53:13what Webster's
53:14dealing with
53:14in the Duchess of Malfi
53:15with women
53:16who are problematic,
53:17who are asserting
53:18their independence,
53:20asserting their rights.
53:23Francis Howard
53:24and Robert Carr
53:25were married
53:26in December 1613,
53:28just as the Duchess
53:29of Malfi
53:30hit the stage.
53:32Early playgoers
53:33may well have been
53:34tempted to draw
53:35parallels between
53:36the play
53:37and the scandalous
53:38match at the
53:39English court.
53:41Fine, madam,
53:42forget this base
53:43low fellow.
53:44Were I a man,
53:45I'd beat that
53:46counterfeit face
53:47into thy other.
53:53But the Duchess
53:55is a figure
53:55of rich ambiguity.
53:58Whatever her
53:58private desires,
53:59she's also
54:00a powerful woman,
54:02the ruler of Malfi,
54:03drawing on the memory
54:04of one woman
54:05in particular.
54:08For me,
54:10the Duchess
54:10captures a profound
54:12sense of nostalgia
54:13for Elizabeth I,
54:16ten years dead
54:17when the Duchess
54:18came to life.
54:21By the end
54:22of Elizabeth's long reign,
54:24the English had,
54:25as one contemporary
54:26put it,
54:27grown weary
54:28of an old woman's government.
54:30But a few years
54:31under James
54:32changed that.
54:33His unpopularity
54:35soon made Elizabeth
54:37seem,
54:38in retrospect,
54:39truly the glorious
54:41Virgin Queen.
54:43In 1606,
54:45Elizabeth was reinterred
54:46in a glorious tomb
54:48in Westminster Abbey
54:50and printed images
54:51of it soon circulated
54:53across the land.
54:55It was said
54:56each devoted subject
54:58created a mournful monument
55:01for her in his heart.
55:05And on the stage,
55:06a rash of powerful woman
55:08soon appeared
55:09with the Duchess of Malfi
55:10the last
55:11and probably
55:12the greatest
55:13of them.
55:15In her defiance
55:16against detractors,
55:18her determination,
55:20strength,
55:21and fortitude,
55:23she called to mind
55:25the idealized image
55:27of England's
55:28beloved queen.
55:29A flesh-and-blood woman
55:37with loves
55:37and desires,
55:39a shining icon
55:40of regal virtue,
55:41surrounded by
55:42the darkest
55:43of oppressors.
55:44Out of these
55:45ingredients,
55:46Webster created
55:47a duchess
55:48who could be
55:49timeless.
55:52For me,
55:53she seemed
55:53sort of like
55:54within the painting
55:56of the Duchess of Malfi,
55:57if there was one,
55:58there would be
55:59a beautiful light
56:00and then all this
56:01darkness around it.
56:02But the darkness
56:03is most of it.
56:05And she's just
56:06one sort of strand
56:07and that's how
56:09I saw it.
56:11No wonder
56:11her most famous line
56:13in all its layers
56:14of meaning
56:15stays with us.
56:17I am Duchess
56:18of Malfi still.
56:19I think that
56:22I am Duchess
56:22of Malfi still
56:23is about
56:24I haven't gone mad.
56:27You know,
56:27that it would be
56:28easier to bear
56:28all this if I could
56:29just escape
56:30through insanity.
56:31But I'm actually
56:32holding,
56:32I'm still,
56:33I still have
56:34the heart and soul
56:35of this woman
56:36I was born
56:37and always will be.
56:40Webster's story
56:41doesn't end
56:42with the Duchess
56:42of Malfi,
56:43of course.
56:44He died
56:45around 1638,
56:46but in the quarter
56:48century left
56:49in his writing career
56:50he never again
56:51reached the heights
56:53he did
56:53in 1614.
56:57So who was
56:58John Webster?
57:00He'll always be seen
57:01in the light
57:02of his greatest play.
57:04The creator
57:05of bizarre
57:06and bloody scenes
57:07yet also
57:08of an almost
57:09modern female lead.
57:11A writer
57:12able to bend
57:13the English language
57:14in unique
57:15unsettling
57:16and unforgettable
57:18ways.
57:20What's this flesh?
57:22A little crudded milk?
57:25Fantastical puff paste?
57:28In the final scenes
57:29of the Duchess
57:30of Malfi,
57:31Webster offers
57:32a grimmer version
57:34of Shakespeare's
57:35All the Worlds
57:36a Stage.
57:37Such a mistake
57:38as I have often
57:39seen in a play.
57:41Not the open
57:42outdoor stage,
57:44but the intimate
57:45enclosed one
57:46of Blackfriars.
57:49Ah, this gloomy world.
57:53In what a shadow
57:55or deep pit of darkness
57:57does womanish
57:58and fearful
57:59mankind live.
58:02Webster saw life
58:04through the prism
58:05of theater.
58:07The flickering darkness
58:08and shadowy world
58:10of the candlelit
58:11indoor stage.
58:13A world
58:14we can now
58:14reconnect with
58:15and a fitting
58:17metaphor
58:17still
58:18for our own
58:20existence.
58:20The life and works
58:34of Colette
58:35and Iris Murdoch.
58:36Just two of the
58:37hundreds of episodes
58:38of In Our Time
58:39available to listen to
58:40now on BBC Sounds.
58:42The End
58:55The End
58:55The End