Women, Beware the Devil (Modern Plays)

Product Information

For the Almeida: A Streetcar Named Desire (West End); Romeo and Juliet; The Duchess of Malfi; Machinal; Summer and Smoke.

WOMEN, BEWARE THE DEVIL Almeida Theatre thespyinthestalls WOMEN, BEWARE THE DEVIL Almeida Theatre thespyinthestalls

But tonally, Raczka’s writing is haywire, muddling modern vernacular with more ornate cod-historical language, deadpan jokes draining the action of every last drop of tension. Her characters are striking archetypes, but they have less depth than an impish Holbein woodcut. Best, then, to enjoy this purely as a vaguely satirical romp, delivered by Goold with a flourish that, while it can’t disguise the play’s shortcomings, at least makes it worth goggling at. Goold’s staging hurls itself into the brimstone and hellfire hokum of it all with gleeful elan, and visually it is sinfully gorgeous. Miriam Buether’s set, lit with Hammer Horror gloomy glamour by Tim Lutkin, features chessboard parquet, leaded windows and gleaming silver and mahogany." Opinion | Don't sneer at celebrities on the West End. They're saving theatre 27 October, 2023 Pulitzer winner Lynn Nottage's new drama Clyde's fails to convince 25 October, 2023 Philip Guston at the Tate Modern is an outstanding exhibition of crisis, violence and injustice 21 October, 2023

About This Show

Resembles a Dutch painting … Lola Shalam, Aurora Dawson-Hunte and Carly-Sophia Davies in Women, Beware the Devil. Photograph: Marc Brenner

Women, Beware the Devil at Almeida Theatre Islington Women, Beware the Devil at Almeida Theatre Islington

Women, Beware the Devil is d irected byRupert Goold. Set design is byMiriam Buetherand costume design byEvie Gurney, with lighting design byTim Lutkin.Adam Corkis both sound designer and composer,and casting directorisAmy Ball.

Cast

And you would need to be Tynan to grasp all this, categorize it (“period drama” comes nowhere near) or find an overarching metaphor. That may be a good thing but is Raczka really breaking new ground? As Rupert Goold stood near the press desk while reviewers filed through the foyer, his smile alternated between beatific and Mephistophelian. I have interviewed Goold (he is surely Cavalier rather than Roundhead) and would trust him. And yet perhaps it is we who are the butt of the joke? It is unusual to sit in the stalls hanging on a plot twist. Yet Romeo and Julie, Gary Owen’s riff on Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, skewers an audience’s anxieties. Small sighs rise up during the performance. On the way out, the dilemmas are debated: “I was so nervous that she…”; “I was sure that he…”

‘Women, Beware the Devil’ review - Time Out

Raczka’s decade-long journey to working at the Almeida couldn’t be more different from the overnight success of her play’s star, Alison Oliver. The young actor achieved the impressive feat of graduating straight from Dublin’s Lir Academy into her role in Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends, before landing a role in Emerald Fennell’s forthcoming film Saltburn.Cast Includes Leo Bill, Carly-Sophia Davies, Aurora Dawson-Hunte, Ioanna Kimbook, Nathan Armarkwei-Laryea, Lydia Leonard, Alison Oliver, Lola Shalam Set in 1640s England, Lady Elizabeth tries to protect her family’s legacy when it’s under threat. She calls upon Agnes, a servant suspected of witchcraft, who tries to elicit her dark dreams on the house. Skewering audience anxieties… Callum Scott Howells and Rosie Sheehy as Romeo and Julie at the National. Photograph: Marc Brenner In Women, Beware the Devil, that evil shows itself in the role of Elizabeth, who as a noblewoman is barred from owning property, or making a life for herself – so she shamelessly manipulates her brother into doing what she wants.