John Webster’s 1612 The White Devil gets modern multimedia makeover in Red Bull revival (photo by Carol Rosegg)
Lucille Lortel Theater
121 Christopher St. between Bleecker & Hudson Sts.
Tuesday – Sunday through April 14, $77-$97
212-352-3101
www.redbulltheater.com
“Of all deaths, the violent death is best; / For from ourselves it steals ourselves so fast, / The pain, once apprehended, is quite past,” Flamineo gruesomely observes in John Webster’s 1612 play The White Devil, now being given a flashy, contemporary revival — with plenty of violent death — by Louisa Proske at the Lucille Lortel, where the Red Bull production opened Sunday night. Flamineo is deliciously played by Tommy Schrider, who marches across the stage and into the aisles in his hip black jacket, plotting to get ahead no matter who he leaves in his wake. Flamineo is arranging for his sister, the fashionable, social-climbing Vittoria Corombona (Lisa Birnbaum), to cuckold her milquetoast husband, Camillo (Derek Smith), with the brash Duke of Brachiano (Daniel Oreskes), who is married to the sweetly innocent Isabella (Jenny Bacon), with whom he has a bright son, Giovanni (Cherie Corinne Rice). Isabella’s brother, Francisco de Medici, the Duke of Florence (T. Ryder Smith), is aghast when he learns about the deception and decides to protect his sister, enlisting the help of his good friend, the powerful Cardinal Monticelso (Robert Cuccioli). Cornelia (Socorro Santiago), Flamineo and Vittoria’s mother, is not exactly pleased with her children’s deceptions. Meanwhile, the murderous, anarchic Count Lodovico (Smith), a Rasputin-like presence with a lust for life — and death — is released from prison and has his own aims on Vittoria, aided by Hortensio (Bacon) and Gasparo (Edward O’Blenis). And finally, Vittoria’s servant, Zanche (Rice), falls in love with Francisco. What follows is villainy and jocularity in delightful abundance.
Relationship between Vittoria Corombona (Lisa Birnbaum) and the Duke of Brachiano (Daniel Oreskes) is at center of The White Devil (photo by Carol Rosegg)
Kate Noll’s elegantly minimalist set juts into the audience, who sit on three sides of the bare stage. At the back is a shallow glass-walled lobby with a central doorway flanked by two small video monitors. Blinds roll up and down the windows as needed for Yana Birÿkova’s large video projections, which range from live footage to offstage murders. The compelling sound and music are by Chad Raines. Believed to be Webster’s first solo playwrighting effort — most of his work was done in collaboration with other writers — The White Devil debuted at the Red Bull theater in London more than half a millennium ago and hasn’t had a New York City revival since a 1965 downtown production starring Frank Langella, Carrie Nye, Maria Tucci, and Paul Stevens, but opera and theater director Proske (peerless, La bohème) makes it feel fresh and alive, turning it into a modern noir thriller reminiscent of James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. With one minor exception, the cast ably delivers Webster’s (The Duchess of Malfi) poetic language, adding gleeful gestures that elicit laughter despite the tragic proceedings. The text is surprisingly contemporary, ahead of its time, which helps explain why it was initially a failure when it debuted; Proske’s updates are visual in nature. It does not feel like an old play, but it is an age-old story, of passion and love, treachery and vengeance, expertly told.