Wicked Deception

We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and bandied which way please them. - V.iv

John Webster's brutal and astonishing play tells the story of one of the stage's greatest women and two of its greatest villains. The widowed Duchess of Malfi tragically defies her two powerful brothers by secretly marrying her household steward. When they uncover her deception, the brothers plot a series of horrific events that leads them all to destruction in this dark tapestry of sibling rivalry, forbidden love, unquenchable ambition, and ensuing madness.