The production continues to play in the West End until the 20th December.
WhatsOnStage: *** ” Whittaker in particular reminds us why she’s been such a miss these past dozen years (during which I hear she’s largely been working on arthouse screen projects). She has tremendous poise as well as a sense of searing intelligence, repelling her brothers’ early attacks with sheer charisma. Although this may not be the best use of her talents, it’s great to have her back on stage.”
The Guardian: ** “The performances are powerful but the setup feels so overbearingly orchestrated that you do not feel the characters’ passion or anger. For all its good ideas, perhaps there are too many of them. It seems ultimately like auteur overload.”
The Standard: *** “It’s still messy and the bloodbath ending is followed by almost 10 minutes of superfluous wittering. An external director might have curbed some of Harris’s writerly profligacy and evened out the tonal imbalance of the two halves.”
Time Out: “Harris’s production has a campy TV movie panache that makes it very watchable, but that’s a bare minimum. She is a distinguished playwright who has done some good stuff, but The Duchess (of Malfi) is a superficial take that leaves its talented cast at sea.”
There Ought to be Clowns: “Harris directs as well as adapting and there’s a sense that she might have benefitted from an outside eye on her work. John Webster’s iconic revenge tragedy has been relocated to a hazily contemporary setting but its roots remain firmly Jacobean and this split focus means that the production never quite settles on a tone, lurching between Tarantino tribute to dark farce to classic drama with modern songs.”
The Telegraph: **** “Revivals of John Webster’s classic come around often enough, but this superb ensemble are reason enough to pay the Trafalgar a visit.”
London Theatre.co.uk: *** “Despite the show’s modern update, the patriarchal attitudes here still feel Jacobean. Where Harris succeeds is in foregrounding the play’s sexual politics and drawing parallels with the present, from questions of ownership and coercion to pleasure and power.”
The Stage: ** “Jodie Whittaker returns to the stage in this bold, Gothic, but strangely dispassionate exploration of male violence.”
All That Dazzles: ** “While the show deals with some serious and disturbing themes, these fail to come across with all the gravitas they deserve, with its ambitious hopes to send a clear message completely lost in translation.”
The Arts Desk: ** “Whittaker makes a good stab at an impossible role, resisting her garrotting like a true pro, cursing like a trooper throughout. She has boundless energy, but there is a stateliness missing here, which the updated characterisation doesn’t call for. All the bravery and inner steel of Webster’s Duchess is reduced to a woman in a dirty shift enduring moments of misery in a gloomy basement, and her true tragic dimension goes with it.”
Broadway World: * “As for Jodie Whittaker? It’s been 12 years since she last trod the boards. Her Duchess exudes icy confidence and loveable arrogance, but without traction to help her find her dramatic footing, this is not quite the eagerly awaited return to the stage that many had anticipated.”
City Am: ** “Jodie Whittaker, returning to the London stage for the first time in over 10 years, takes a confident and playful approach to the Duchess, leaning into her sexual urges by throwing her body around the stage with commendable zephyr. Rory Fleck Byrne is particularly good as brother Antonio, his eyes throwing lasers at her in a way that shows he’s genuinely unhinged.”
The Duchess will run at the Trafalgar Theatre until the 20th December 2024.