Incest, bloody weddings and violent revenge might sound like the fundamental parts of a Game of Thrones episode but for the Ensemble Theatre Company, it’s another day on the stage.
One of the company’s upcoming plays, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, has long been regarded as controversial. Regardless of this, the 1633 John Ford classic opens at the Jericho Theatre Centre on July 18.
“The throbbing heart of ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore beats loudly with forbidden passion, lies, intrigue and revenge,” said Brian Parkinson, director of the Ensemble Theatre Company’s production of the play, via email. “At first glance, the play is a re-dux of Romeo and Juliet in which the forbidden love is shared not by lovers from rival families, but by a brother and sister.”
The play’s central characters, Giovanni and Annabella, are brother, sister and also lovers. When their father arranges a marriage for Annabella, the consequences are dire.
By virtue of its subject matter, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore is seldom performed. Artistic director of the Ensemble Theatre Company, Tariq Leslie, selected this play as part of the company’s theme of truth, lies and consequences running throughout this season’s plays.
“The irony of it is that ’Tis Pity is actually one of Ford’s better known plays,” Parkinson said. “But mostly because of the scandal generated by both the title and to a lesser extent, by its content.”
Parkinson believes that, just as a book should not be judged by its cover, a play should not be judged by its title.
“Even today the play manages to provoke very strong responses -- responses based on the title alone usually,” Parkinson said. “One literary critic suggested that a more accurate contemporary rendering of the title would be 'Tis Pity She’s a Woman, for the play does expose a male-dominated, cloistered and closeted oppressive society in which women are present, but excluded."
For the actors, the work is challenging and exciting, stretching them to perform with blank verse, complex characters and violence.
“There’s not much in this play that demands a different approach to the material because the material is the study of people living stressful lives in volatile circumstances,” Parkinson said. “Our process has been the close examination of characters -- characters living in compromised and uncomfortable situations, where everyone is looking over their shoulders all the time and they all lie to obtain advantage or simply to survive.”
Parkinson decided to move the play four centuries ahead, moving from a 1633 setting to a 1930s Italian mafia setting with a film noir atmosphere. He promises not an easy night at the theatre as Ford’s text forces the audience to make their own judgments about the characters and moral dilemmas themselves.
“I’m reminded of Edward Albee’s comment that the last thing he wanted an audience to be thinking about as they left the theatre was where they parked their car. I have no doubt that this play will have that effect,” Parkinson said.
’Tis Pity She’s a Whore opens on July 18 at the Jericho Theatre Centre. Tickets are available online.