James Shirley (1596-1666) is one of British theatre’s best-kept secrets. It is therefore fascinating, on purely historical grounds, to see a revival of a play first staged in 1641 just before the Puritan closure of London’s theatres. Justin Audibert also gives this cracking play a vigorous production that, since many of the cast have lately worked with the RSC, would look at home in Stratford-on-Avon’s Swan theatre.
Part of the pleasure lies in Shirley’s conscious reference to past works. Since the action revolves around a Navarre duchess who defies a manipulative cardinal by marrying the man of her choice, it is impossible not to think of John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi.
When the cardinal’s nephew, who hoped to marry the duchess himself, kills her groom at the masked wedding celebrations, there is clearly a knowing nod to the Jacobean tradition of revenge-drama. But, although Shirley’s plot is sometimes excessively labyrinthine, his play is animated by its fierce satire on the machinations of the clerical hierarchy. It may even be relevant that, before Shirley converted to Catholicism, Archbishop Laud allegedly objected to his ordination because he had an unsightly mole on his face.
Whatever his motives, he provides a scathing portrait of a corrupt cardinal who puts worldly fame before religious practice and whom Stephen Boxer endows with a superbly silky malevolence. Natalie Simpson as the spirited duchess, Phil Cheadle as her loyal follower and Jay Saighal as her murderous wooer all give full-blooded performances and Shirley’s play, shifting from revenge-drama to black comedy, leaves one astonished at its neglect by our incurious theatre.
• At Southwark Playhouse, London, until 27 May. Box office: 020-7407 0234.
