The Duchess of Malfi

The widowed Duchess of Malfi longs to marry her lover, the steward Antonio. But her rancorous brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, are implacably opposed to the match. When their spy, Bosola, discovers that the Duchess has secretly married and carries Antonio’s child, they exact a terrible and horrific revenge.

The Duchess of Malfi, featuring Hollywood star Gemma Arterton in the title role, is a thrilling combination of brilliant coups de théâtre, horrific set-pieces and vivid characters, all lit by playwright John Webster’s obsessional imagination.

Gemma Arterton returned to The Globe to play the Duchess in this sell-out production. Gemma made her professional stage debut at the Globe in 2007, when she won huge critical acclaim as Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost.

This most intimate Jacobean tragedy proved a truly sensational curtain-raiser for The Globe’s very first season in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. The Globe On Screen production is the first ever theatrical production to be filmed entirely in candlelight - a unique and un-missable opening for the 2015 cinema season.