Written and first performed in the first half of the seventeenth century, John Fords tragedy of forbidden love amongst the Italian aristocracy has had a controversial history. Earlier generations have balked at this tale of passionate incest, and found the authors sympathetic portrayal of the unfortunate siblings Giovanni and Annabella hard to stomach. The play has survived and continues to be produced because it is very well crafted, a taut thriller and - when all is said and done - piques the voyeur in all of us. The dashing Giovanni declares early on to his confessor that he is in love with his sister, and unable to find the fortitude to resist by penance, declares his passion to Annabella who readily reciprocates. The play charts the inevitable spiral to multiple deaths. This production focuses entirely on this main plot, shedding several other strands, and for the most part its well put together.Sam Wood as Giovanni is strong, his verse speaking being terrific and his commitment to the character total. Other performances are less compelling, and I found Jessica Bayly and Victoria Aubrey-Rees as Annabella her maid and confidant, Putana, very weak, though the program informs me they have won awards for these performances. The direction by Caroline Hadley throws up some interesting ideas, but her use of this huge space is appalling, with entrances and exits sloppy and arbitrary. There is also some clunky use of AV. This is the fourth or fifth show Ive seen this year that thinks back projecting an image against the backcloth or side flats gives the audience a sense of location a church window, a garden, etc. It really doesnt. It just begins to feel like a very slow slide show form your dad and this is a picture I took of a stained glass window near Naples. There is some more imaginative use of projection, with footage of the lovers having sex, but its not well filmed and in the end not daring enough they could have done all of it on stage without offending anyone. It is a play, after all.This is a pretty good stab at this difficult play, but it needs bigger production values than we have here, especially in this huge space (by Edinburgh Fringe standards). The sword fight between Giovanni and his love rival and his henchmen is well executed, and the greatest tribute to the cast is that the climactic moment, when Giovanni appears with Annabellas heart on a sword didnt get giggles but was strangely moving and shocking by turns.Damn! Ive spoilt the ending for you and you thought they were going to live happily ever after.
