Women Beware Women
Landor Theatre

Mark Tyson

I must confess that I was unfamiliar with Thomas Middleton, who is evidently someone I should have heard of (clever people can look away now).

Scratching around for some background information, the preface to Frank Kermode's Shakespeare's Language proved useful. Kermode writes that Shakespeare has long been accepted as superior to other dramatic poets of his time '...though amongst them were theatre poets of high distinction such as Marlowe, Middleton, Webster and Jonson'.

The aCCentuate theatre company production of Women Beware Women, is a stripped down affair, the set is minimal and the cast wear modern dress, albeit not the latest fashion. The ambience is outside of time and place although the presence of matchmakers, strumpets and gentlewomen, tells us that we are in a past world. The title of the play suggests that it may have something to tell us about today's sex wars. Perhaps that we have gone too far in perpetuating the myth of the virtuous woman, or even that women have been constrained by society's demand that they live up to these ideals.

But neither the men or the women come out of this play with much credit. Lust and betrayal abound, emotions are fickle, and morality is ambiguous and shifting. It is left to the charater of the Lord Cardinal attempt to hold the moral line, but he is an isolated figure. The play shows that we rebel against contraints, but without any boundaries we end up destroying ourselves and those around us. The cast of both newcomers and experienced performers handle an intricate array of plots and sub-plots to produce an engaging and entertaining performance.

All articles on this site © Culture Wars.