The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster

In its fascination with surveillance, secrets, and human beings’ connection to their environments, John Webster’s Duchess of Malfi resonates deeply with our contemporary moment. At the same time, its fantastical features – a ghostly echo, poisoned bible, a dead man’s hand, waxworks that look like hanged bodies, and a character who believes himself to be a wolf – make it a riotous play to study and perform.

Malfi tells the story of a young widow (known as ‘the Duchess’), whose brothers – one a Cardinal and the other her twin, Ferdinand – are determined to prevent her from remarrying. To learn more about her behavior, the brothers plant Bosola as a spy into her household, but the Duchess nevertheless manages to contract a secret marriage with Antonio, her steward. The new couple are very happy and go on to have three babies whom they contrive to keep secret from the outside world. Eventually though, the Duchess’s brothers hear rumours of their sister’s children and take drastic steps to unearth the secret.