'It's not a great title', claims Barrie Rutter, director of this production of A Woman Killed with Kindness. Using it as the companion piece to his Northern Broadsides touring company production of Henry V, it has to fit into the same set and use the same company of actors; actors who, as is ever the style of Northern Broadsides, are ordinary-looking people with ordinary northern accents. Thomas Heywood wrote this play 400 years ago and deliberately set it in Yorkshire. Known for breaking the southern stranglehold on classical performance through their use of natural northern voices, Northern Broadsides had to prove that this gimmick isn't the only reason why they are such a successful company. Heywood was a prolific playwright, having written or been involved with the production of over 200 plays. It has been said that some of his work influenced Shakespeare (Measure to Measure bears much resemblance to A Woman Killed).This piece borders on the morality play. A domestic tragedy, a seemingly idyllic marriage is destroyed by a woman's unkindness to her husband, through her adultery. It is a crime for which her husband could easily have killed both she and her lover and escaped punishment. Instead, he bestows her with unbelievable kindness, sparing her life, banishing her to his mansion, ensuring she wants for nothing. By doing so he destroys her with guilt. A parallel plot displays the contemporary notions of honour of Heywood's time, born of orthodox Christianity. The establishing scene portrays an ideal world and marriage. Intentionally enhanced by Rutter, the entire wedding scene was invented and comes complete with traditional music and folk dancing. The demise of the husband and wife relationship is set in stone from here on in. Heywood was a pragmatic playwright, rarely seeing need for preparation (We need babies! The babies appear!). A rarely performed piece (the last was 12 years ago by the RSC), Northern Broadsides do this Elizabethan drama justice. Their work is as ever refreshing and popular, but this is possibly not the most accessible piece they have chosen in recent times. When the language is more immediate through its direct delivery it is easier to concentrate on the story. However, it is best to remember that A Woman Killed with Kindness is a moralistic period piece and no amount of dancing or northern-ness can detract from this. It isn't a great title, but it does capture the essence of the play.
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