Having stood the test of time the plain fact is that The Duchess of Malfi is a great play and one that is revived quite frequently. Many productions rarely hit the nail on the head but this one does.

Upon entering the theatre the audience are confronted with the beautiful and majestic settings of the Italian Court. I subsequently spent the next 3 hours glued to my seat trying to visually devour Soutra Gilmour’s simple yet stunning creation.

The complex psyche of the Duchess is bought to life with a brutal honesty and absolute commitment of Eve Best. She gives powerful and interesting performance as the Duchess and has managed to create a simply flawless character.

Antonio is played by the talented Tom Bateman, who brings a fresh sense of excitement to the early romance between the Duchess and his character and handles the mental conflict later in the marriage with great skill and sincerity.

The third and final performance of note is Mark Bonnar’s cunning and tragic Bosola. The main link between the action onstage and the audience, Bonnar manages to ensnare the audience through the wit and charm of the character which only made me feel a deeper sense of sadness in the final moments of the play. Bonnar is on top form here.

The true simplicity of the production does Webster’s dark tale a great justice and director Jamie Lloyd a huge credit. Lloyd just understands the beauty of the piece and delivers a sublime and well executed production. You definitely get a lot of theatre for your money… weighing in at three hours long it is no small undertaking, but certainly one that I would recommend.

On another note entirely, I advise that you take some cough sweets to throw at the many overly vocal audience members that the Old Vic seems to regularly attract.

Continues until 9 June, book here.

Written by a Thoroughly Modern Man, Thomas Moore.