The
White Devil
by John Webster
Adapted by Gale Edwards
Directed by Gale Edwards
Sex. Lust. Violence.
Political and sexual corruption merge in this erotically charged Jacobean thriller with a white-hot pulse.
Internationally renowned director Gale Edwards (The Boy From Oz, St Joan, Coriolanus), whose production of Don Carlos recently took London and New York by storm, takes us on a startling ride through the 17th century Italian court. The adulterous love affair between the beautiful Vittoria (Angie Milliken) and the hot-tempered Duke of Brachiano (Hugo Weaving) threatens the very fabric of a corrupt and volatile society.
The White Devil is a cross between Reservoir Dogs and The Godfather; erotic, tough and nightmarish.
Especially mounted for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival, the production brings together an exceptional cast which also includes Paula Arundell, Julia Blake, Philip Dodd, John Gaden, Brian Green, Joe Manning, Heather Mitchell, Matthew Newton, Mark Pegler, Tony Poli, Philip Quast, Jeremy Sims, Bruce Spence and William Zappa.
Don't miss this strictly limited season - four weeks only at Sydney's Theatre Royal.
It will be a long time before you experience anything like this magnificent Devil on stage again.
Set Design by Brian Thomson
Costume Design by Roger Kirk
Lightening Design by Trudy Dalgleish
Compsors - Martin Armiger and Max Lambert
Fight Choreographer - Steve Douglas-Craig
Assistant Director - Christopher Johnson
Cast:
- Philip Quast - Francesco de Medici
- Bruce Spence - Camillo
- Hugo Weaving - Duke of Brachiano
- William Zappa - Lodovico
- John Gaden
- Heather Mitchell
- Jeremy Sims
- Paula Arundell
- Julia Blake
- Brian Green
- Angie Milliken
- Matthew Newton
Love can be deadly.
Political and sexual corruption merge in this taut Jacobean thriller with a white-hot pulse, now given a stunning new production by Sydney Theatre Company for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival.
The adulterous love affair between the beautiful Vittoria Corombona and the hot-tempered Duke of Brachiano threatens the very fabric of a corrupt and volatile society. Murder follows violent murder in a bloody trail of destruction as hypocrisy and revenge, unleashed, threaten to crush the escaping lovers and decimate their world.
Poetic, menacing and brilliantly nightmarish, The White Devil is based on a true account of treachery and sexual intrigue in the 17th century Italian court. Gale Edwards directs a new production after her stunning Royal Shakespeare Company version which was greeted with the following critical acclaim:
"...this startling, vigorous production, directed by Gale Edwards, is gripping" Daily Telegraph, London
"… a Devil of Luciferic magnificence" Financial Times, London
We would like to thank Elizabeth for providing us with the Offical Sidney Theatre Company Brochure from which the above details came.
Out of the Frying Pan
Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 12 August 2000 Bryce Hallett reports.
A star of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Sydney Theatre Company, the larger-than-life Philip Quast steps from a controversial panto straight into a Jacobean thriller.
Philip Quast emerges from the shadows of his Sydney terrace with tousled hair and a quizzical stare. In the hallway's half light he resembles a mixture of the heroic Inspector Javert he played in Les Miserables a decade ago and the arch-villain Hook of a few weeks ago in Pan.
I wonder whether memories and expectations are conspiring to play tricks, but the ruggedly handsome Quast, stripped of make-up and tailored costumes, does look the swashbuckling part. However, unlike his huge, commanding stage performances, he is not overbearing but cheerfully polite and somewhat shy, at least when a journalist comes knocking on his door.
Named theatrical performer of the year in the 1994 Mo Awards for his role in Sondheim's Into The Woods, Quast has spent the past several years honing his craft in Britain tackling meaty roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has won fans and accolades for his stage work, most recently an Olivier award in 1998 for his portrayal of a cripple in the musical The Fix, produced by the Donmar Warehouse and Cameron Mackintosh.
Despite his versatile skills and the recognition the industry has paid them, the Hunter Valley-born [sic] actor has neither tenaciously sought fame nor thrust himself forward as a celebrity, as he's seen many a one or two-hit wonder do. The family man (he has a wife and two [sic] children) Quast reserves his fireball energy for the stage, his meticulous preparations aimed at giving the characters, be it a Shakespearian warrior or the painter Seurat, the heightened, charismatic quality he feels the language demands.
"I haven't done many leading roles and have tended to shy away from leading a company," he says. "Like Colin Firth, I would describe myself as a character actor ... In the past three or four years, I feel actors have deserted the theatre in preference for film and I've begun inheriting lead roles by default - it's difficult because sometimes you have to drag the ensemble kicking and screaming to a common goal."
Quast, who once frequently popped up on Play School on ABC-TV and played a memorably oily bloke in The Damnation of Harvey McHugh, tries to resist being typecast, alert to the shrinking opportunities for mature actors and the swelling pool of fresh young faces. "When I started out, diversity was paramount. I'm a middle-aged actor now and you start to ask, 'what are most actors hanging in for?' It's a complex process, a matter of deciding what's right for you at the time and making choices. I've done a lot of television, a bit of film and a great deal of theatre - this has given me my grounding. But I keep my options open and am careful not to over-expose myself ... and increasingly, I am trying to take a balanced and whole view about acting and not get too hung-up. In the past, I've often got uptight and now I'm learning to enjoy myself more."
At the start of the year, Quast was wooed back to Sydney by the selfmade impresario Kerry Jewel to star in the beleaguered $10 million production of Pan at the Capitol Theatre. He relished the job and the chance it gave him to discover his flair for comedy and "break through the fourth wall" to talk to the audience. "There were many personal reasons why I did Pan. It wasn't a musical - I didn't get to sing - but I loved the language and how the story could engage a young audience. I thought it was an interesting piece and playinsg Captain Hook was a culmination of everything that I knew about operatic-style performance, Shakespeare at the Barbican and Stratford, and also doing musicals. I relished all that complexity of language."
Although about 100,000 people saw Pan in its 10-week season and word-of-mouth was generally good, the show closed to make way for Olympic Arts Festival attractions that were booked well ahead of the Pan production. But Pan was far from plain sailing and is unlikely to tour Australia. "The show faced enormous difficulties and came under pressure from managements," he says. "Another problem was that people in this country are conditioned to the commercial theatre being musicals. Everyone says it [Pan] should have been a musical, but at the matinees the kids were laughing at the language and loving the visuals. Pan was hard to classify. But it would fit perfectly well as Christmas fare in England: it's an entertainment."
Quast has traded the panto-style shoes of the nasty, wry Hook for those of Francisco in the Jacobean thriller The White Devil, opening on Friday as part of the Olympic Arts Festival. Out of the pan and into the fire? "It's like going back to school or being back with the family," he says. "I know many of the guys from my NIDA days and it's been bliss. We don't see ourselves as part of a stellar cast. It's made a hell of a difference being among friends and it's been fascinating to watch the show come together."
The production, directed by Gale Edwards, stars many of the industry's leading lights, including Angie Milliken, Hugo Weaving, Jeremy Sims, John Gaden, Heather Mitchell, William Zappa and Bruce Spence.
Quast rates Edwards, who directed him in Coriolanus for the STC in the mid-'90s, alongside top-of-the-pile directors Trevor Nunn, Peter Hall, Sam Mendes and Ian Judge, all of whom he has "surrendered to" in his career. "The best directors are like parents; they genuinely love actors and encourage them to do the best they can. I love rehearsals and flail all over the place but I try to do everything through the director - I'm such a pain in the arse, really. Working with people like Gale is a blessing because she provides an essential space for actors while requiring enormous commitment.
"I've been criticised for playing huge - 'it's not small, is it', they'll back-handedly say - but the language and its rhythms dictates a heightened approach and doesn't embrace a naturalistic style of acting as far as I'm concerned."
Immediately after The White Devil next month Quast and his family return to London, where he has been cast in the RSC's revival of the musical, The Secret Garden, directed by Adrian Noble. "It helps that I have two houses, but I'm not keen on staying away again for too long," he says. "If the work opportunities existed in Australia I'd be happy to stay, but the good thing about being away is that it gives people a rest and stops me becoming overexposed."
Despite this year's pressured workload, including a rousing performance at the one-night Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras gala, The Stars Come Out!, the actor has had long spells out of work or "between engagements", as some actors are quick to say when spotted waiting on tables or pulling beers.
But Quast is not the type to kill for a role, preferring instead to adopt what he calls a semi-professional attitude. "Sure you need tenacity and drive, but there's also a holistic way. It's a question of balance and being open to a diversity of experience."
Also occupying his mind are some songs he wants to record next year, a project largely under wraps. "I've spent 18 months looking for material and speaking to composers. I can't bear the thought of another collection of show tunes - it's got to be material that I believe in and find something purposeful to say." Quast's resonant voice, which seems to require minimal effort to project, is perfect for the stage and like gold in the hands of a vocal coach.
"I have done my share of musicals but I don't have the voice of Anthony Warlow," he notes. 'I happen to sing well but I'm not a musician and I struggle musically." During Les Miserables, Quast suffered stage fright, a condition he has learnt to keep in check. You can't afford to dry up in a musical and you can feel terribly alone - there's no way to hide f--ng it up. I remember one time it got so bad I felt I was hemorrhaging on stage and ended up vomiting in the wings. The best way to describe it is like a virus on your hard drive. It was a long process to push the right mental buttons to control the panic, and I got many useful hints from an occupational therapist ..."
Quast says his stage fright was more likely to surface in a musical when he felt exposed and unnecessarily burdened by an audience's expectation.
"I'm very choosy about the musicals I do... I haven't done Phantom, Chicago, Fame or played Old Deuteronomy in Cats I've avoided those. The ones I've done are acting/singing roles, such as Sunday in the Park with George. I hate a lot of musicals because I think the acting is shit. I don't think there's a lot of people who can teach musical-theatre acting. I get accused of singing my part no matter what the role, but it's because of the beat of the language and the nature of my voice - I can't change that."
Philip also performed in The White Devil RSC production in 1996 at Stratford & 1997 in London.
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