BBC Arts at the Globe

BBC Arts at the Globe, BBC Two

More than any other, one man captured the spirit of the Jacobean age and the convulsive regime change that ended the Elizabethan era - but you may never have heard of him. His play The Duchess Of Malfi is one of the greatest tragedies to come out of the English Renaissance. By turns dark, brooding and bloody, it also features a female heroine of rich and unrivalled subtlety and complexity. In this film for BBC Two, renowned scholar Professor James Shapiro goes in search of this man, the mysterious John Webster, and argues that his masterpiece rivals, and perhaps even equals, the greatest tragedies of Shakespeare.

The Duchess Of Malfi, a tale of forbidden love, intrigue, betrayal and murder, is full of disturbing and at times macabre violence and scenes of horror; effortlessly holding its own with King Lear and Hamlet. Today, it is one of the most frequently performed plays of the period not written by Shakespeare.

In this hour-long documentary, which precedes the BBC Four transmission of the recent Sam Wanamaker Playhouse stage production of Malfi, James Shapiro draw the audience into the world of playwrights and theatre-goers in Jacobean London. With a visit the Playhouse itself – a wooden amphitheatre on London's South Bank, designed to replicate the candlelit indoor playhouses of the early 17th century, James speaks to actress Gemma Arterton about her title role as the Duchess; and Dominic Dromgoole, Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe who explains how he staged the play.

Piecing together the fragments of Webster’s life, James Shapiro questions who this shadowy figure was, and explores how he came to write one of the greatest of all English plays.

BBC Two, Saturday 24 May, 7pm

The Duchess Of Malfi

BBC Arts at The Globe, BBC Four

BBC Four presents the TV premiere of the critically acclaimed production of John Webster’s macabre revenge tragedy The Duchess Of Malfi, following its sell-out run at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre earlier this year.

Gemma Arterton takes the title role as the widowed Duchess of Malfi who longs to marry her lover Antonio, played by Alex Waldmann. But her brothers, Ferdinand (David Dawson) and the Cardinal (James Garnon), are determined to prevent the union. When their spy, Bosola (Sean Gilder), discovers the Duchess has already married Antonio and is pregnant with his child, they set out to exact their revenge – with horrifying and bloody consequences.

For the BBC Four audience Andrew Marr introduces the play from the Playhouse itself, an exquisitely recreated Jacobean theatre giving a sense of what it was like to be in the audience when the play was first publicly staged in 1614. Everything is as it was 400 years ago - the audience cocooned in a wooden chamber made of pale oak, and the stage lit solely by hundreds of candles.

BBC Arts takes audiences to the heart of this extraordinary performance as the curtain draws back and the play unfolds in a bloody and downright ghoulish chain of events.

BBC Four, Sunday 25 May, time tbc

BBC Arts Online

The performance of The Duchess Of Malfi starring Gemma Arterton will be published on BBC Arts Online on 24 May to coincide with the BBC Four documentary.

Dames take on the Duchess

BBC Arts Online will also present curated film and audio archives of three of Britain’s most distinguished and celebrated actresses who have taken on the role of the Duchess of Malfi over the decades; beginning with Peggy Ashcroft in the 50s, Eileen Atkins in the 70s and Helen Mirren in the 80s.