Writer: John Ford

Director: Chris Meads

Reviewer: Jim Gillespie

The Public Reviews Rating:

Tis A Pity was shocking in its day, when horror-tragedies were all the rage, and yet in taking revenge to a new level of brutality and twisting the sympathies of the audience into moral ambiguities, John Ford’s play continues to challenge and shock the sensibilities of a modern audience. The protagonists are frustrated lovers, Annabella and Giovanni – brother and sister – and it is their own shared blood which denies them the possibility of a happy ending, resulting in revenge and a bloody stage.

The Everyman’s production has cleverly cut the script down to the necessary plotlines, cutting several extraneous characters who are murdered prior to the final revenge and losing some of the comedic subplots; by doing so they have created a thoughtful, well-paced production which contrasts pensive silence with slickly delivered dialogue and violent action. Ashley Sharpe’s set is stunning, and enabled movement on several levels; the set focuses the eyes upon the cut out pit in the centre of the lower level, which in the first half was occupied by a bed and provided a secretive cell, or second womb, for the incestuous passion to be enacted. As the second half reveals the consequences of the pair’s lustful actions the central pit becomes bare, the other characters prowl around it predatorily, and we prepare for the ‘cock-fight’ within the animal pit which is surely the characters destiny.

There is a dramatic problem at the core of the production, which is that we are unable to determine where our sympathies should lie, there is no hope for the lovers, we know they are doomed from their first kiss, and it is uncertain who holds the moral compass amongst the characters – Giovanni, despite being responsible for the final bloodshed, believes himself to be governed by passion and love rather than self-corrupted by lust. Vasquez, despite seeming to be the archetypal baddie directing the vengeful actions of others, appears to have the strongest moral motives of duty, service and honour. The Church is a constant character in the mayhem supposedly providing security and salvation, and yet it is portrayed as corrupt, self-serving and assisting the subjugation of women.

For me, I felt drawn to this production’s take upon the role of women; each of the female characters is decried by the male characters as harlots and “the weaker vessel”. It is telling that the picture of the Mother is constantly lit by candles; the memory of a woman is worshipped whilst all other women are treated as whores. Annabella is depicted as weak for having succumbed to her lust for her brother, destroying her reputation and chastity. It is Giovanni who is lauded as the intelligent man of books, however he does not think of how their passionate actions will condemn his sister, whilst their love does not necessarily condemn or destroy him – for me this made the character of Giovanni unsympathetic and weak as he appeared to be truly in the grips of self-serving lust rather than selfless love. Equally, this production highlights the inequality of punishment to women as Putana’s punishment for knowing of the incest is to have her eyes ripped out and be burnt alive, whilst Vasquez’s punishment for partaking in the murders and organising the revenge is merely to be banished. Fair, eh?

This is a tricky play which provokes more questions than it answers, however the Everyman have created a fantastically strong production, the wonderful acting holding together the tricky subject matter particularly the capable performances of Matti Houghton and Hugh Skinner as Annabella and Giovanni. The direction ensured that the play flowed beautifully, never halting or dwelling on unnecessary words or action, and the pace of many of the lines breathed life and a modern sensibility into an old script.

Photo: Sam Heath – Runs until 30th October

Tis a Pity She’s a Whore - Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, 4.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

Tags: Ashley Sharpe, Chris Meads, Everyman Theatre, Hugh Skinner, John Ford, Liverpool, Matti houghton, Tis A Pity