Word: duchess
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...GLADYS, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH by Hugo Vickers Holt, Rinehart & Winston; 308 pages...
...aisle seats, he sometimes seemed to find Broadway lacking in the style, elegance and wit that characterized the drama and literature of his favorite century, the 18th, about which he fashioned fascinating books such as Kings and Desperate Men, a survey of 18th century England, Marlborough 's Duchess, a biography of Sarah Churchill, and an anthology called The Portable Johnson and Boswell...
...only performer who seems ill at east with the restrictions of this production is Kim Bendheim in the title role. Bendheim tries for something more than a one-dimensional characterization. Her Duchess is a skittish teenager, determined to do just as she pleases. She falls in love with her steward, contracting a secret marriage with him, and that mesalliance causes her downfall. Yet Bendheim does not make the Duchess a giddy and thoughtless girl. Though young, the Duchess is nevertheless a great aristocrat, fully aware of the responsibilities of her social position and of the danger in which her marriage...
Attempting to be both proud and passionate, Bendheim has a difficult task. In her emphasis on the Duchess' youthful audacity, she stumbles over long sentences and leaves us unsure this reckless girl could deceive her cunning brother for even a little while. In the second half of the play, when the Duchess' pride sustains her through her misfortunes, Bendheim occasionally slips into facile arrogance, leaving the Duchess' anguish only hinted at. But these are momentary lapses in what remains a rewarding performance. Bendheim's characterization, while not wholly realized, is subtler and more human than the effective but confined performances...
...dance and mime does not fully compensate for the narrowness of Shiels and Raymond's interpretation. Regarded merely as a nightmare, The Duchess of Malfi loses coherence and power. Though Shiels and Raymond have taken great liberties with the play--the plot is so tightly constructed that it survives. Horror after horror piles up and our interest never flags. Nevertheless, we don't believe in what happens. Bendheim's is the only performance approaching credibility. By removing The Duchess of Malfi from a gossip-ridden palace and situating it in the dark recesses of the mind, Shiels and Raymond have...