Acclaimed TV and stage actor Jodie Whittaker is returning to the stage for the first time in over a decade in a version of John Webster's 'The Duchess of Malfi,' adapted and directed by Zinnie Harris.
'The Duchess' will run at the Trafalgar Theatre for about 11 weeks, from Saturday, October 5 until Sunday, Dec. 20.
In the play, Whittaker's character, having recently lost her husband, is looking for a fresh start, so she goes against her family's wishes and marries someone beneath her social class. Her siblings repress her power by imposing a string of cruel and devastating punishments after learning of her second marriage.
Whittaker said she is "beyond delighted" to lead Harris' adaptation, originally presented in 2019 at the Edinburgh Royal Lyceum under the title 'The Duchess of Malfi.'
"Zinnie has so brilliantly propelled The Duchess of Malfi into contemporary culture, which originally drew me to the piece," she said. "Being able to portray the Duchess's tragic and captivating story on stage every night is a true honor."
The Guardian's Mark Fisher commented that Harris' version reframes a canonical tragedy in terms of sexual politics. He claimed that this duchess was a young woman determined to set her agenda as the recently widowed survivor of a miserable marriage.
Furthermore, Harris' play 'Macbeth' (An Undoing) is up for four Drama Desk nominations in New York this month. It was recently revealed that she will work with composer Louis Barabbas to adapt Neil Gaiman's story Coraline into a musical.
Whittaker's previous stage roles include Antigone in Polly Findlay's production of Sophocles's tragedy at the National Theatre in 2012 opposite another former Doctor, Christopher Eccleston.
