That Marston's no Shakespeare doesn't prevent Dominic Cooke treating the former's Jacobean melodrama as if political poetry. He transfers the tale of deposed Genoese Duke Altofronto to 1970s Latin America, where he seeks vengeance disguised as malcontent Malevole. Though rival Pietro (staid Colin McCormack) is the usurper, the ultimate Iago-like villain is the ultra-ambitious Mendoza (slick Joe Dixon). Throughout disguises and dissemblings, torments and sudden turnabouts, conflict settles on greasy malcontent vs. murderous greaser. One can almost smell the former and taste the latter's sucked cigar (appropriate symbol), thanks to the leading actors and Dominic Cooke's consistently serious direction.
Winning the audience over by directly sharing confidences, Claire Benedict as a busy bawd makes slimy pandering seem attractive. Sexy Amanda Drew's Aurelia, Duchess to Pietro, convincingly changes lovers as she does pretty clothes. Complementing Paul Bhattacharjee's noble Celso, faithful friend to Altofronto, Anna Madeley exemplifies patient loyalty as his long-suffering spouse.
A Jacobean masque featuring four figures of death in courtly white fits right into the Latin American ambiance. So do changing "balcony scenes" of alternate rulers greeting (presumably) the same crowds of subjects.
Musical bridges heighten the sense of rushed action, which settles down to the performance of masque music before the revelation and resolution. One might call it a nice, almost Shakespearean touch.
