North West Theatre

‘Tis Pity She's A Whore

John Ford
16 Sep 10 to 30 Oct 10
Everyman Theatre

After the death of her mother, Annabella is left to face adolescence alone.

When her elder brother Giovanni returns home, he propels them both into a dangerous world of sexual transgression and youthful revolt. Together they crash through the boundaries of what can be said, what can be read, what to believe and who you can love.

...still has the power to shock, even if you know to expect it... Matti Houghton plays Annabella as almost childlike... Giovanni then, played by a hand-wringing, hair-tugging Hugh Skinner, appears impulsive and selfish... performed over three levels... This works better during the first half of the production... In the second part however, it becomes confusingly topsy-turvy... an uncomfortable play to watch... a strong supporting cast that only occasionally gets tripped up by the language...
Liverpool Daily Post
...Chris Meads’ direction has not only imbued each character with vitality, colour and depth... every bit as shocking and thought provoking as surely it was on the play’s original opening night. For vim, vigour and passion look no further than Hugh Skinner’s Giovanni. For deftness and subtlety look to Matti Houghton’s Annabella... beautifully offset by the angst of Emily Pithon’s spurned Hipolitta... very much a seventeenth century play for today.
The Stage
...the clarity of the plot... is assisted by the decision of director Chris Meads and his team to weed out some of the extraneous characters from Ford’s original... Amid the unrelenting trauma there are still some laugh-out-loud moments... designer Ashley Shairp has created a simple but effective, and deceptively spacious, dual-level stage...
Liverpool Echo (Rating: 7/10)
...a thoughtful, well-paced production which contrasts pensive silence with slickly delivered dialogue and violent action. Ashley Sharpe’s set is stunning... There is a dramatic problem at the core of the production, which is that we are unable to determine where our sympathies should lie... a tricky play which provokes more questions than it answers, however the Everyman have created a fantastically strong production...
The Public Reviews (Rating: 4/5)
...the split level set is marvellous... an occasionally blurred time scale meant events proceeded at a disjointed pace... Hugh Skinner does well with this difficult role, passionate and loquacious, if self righteous in protesting too much... Nicholas Shaw... and Ken Bradshaw... match up in the villainous stakes... humorous moments from the remarkable Eileen O’Brien... Matti Houghton shines as Annabella... this relentlessly gripping play is an eye opener...
What's On Stage (Rating: 4/5)
Great performances from Eileen O’Brien... and also from Ken Bradshaw... Hugh Skinner as Giovanni was electrically charged and tormented and perfectly paired with Matti Houghton... Chris Meads made the text more exciting and less predictable...
Liverpool Live (Rating: 3/5)
...becomes a short sharp shocker in Chris Meads's atmospheric revival... Meads's fluid, layered staging... Meads slightly loses his way in the bloody denouement, in which he overdoes the homage to the teenage slasher movie... captures the dreary, oppressive Sunday afternoon atmosphere of the era... Ken Bradshaw excellent... Eileen O'Brien making the most of the Romeo and Juliet-style nurse...
The Guardian (Rating: 4/5)