'TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE by John Ford directed by Mehmet C Izbudak Performed at The Wimbledon Studio Theatre November 2001

• About the play
• About the playwright
• The cast
• The crew
• Production photographs
• Back to Carlton productions

The Play

''Tis Pity She's a Whore', John Ford's most successful and best-known dramatic work was first performed in about 1630. It is a tragedy that deals with the controversial theme of incestuous love. Overwhelmed by a consuming passion, Giovanni seduces his sister Annabella, who becomes pregnant and marries Soranzo to conceal her guilt. Soranzo discovers her secret and plans to kill Giovanni. The secret lovers anticipate him, however, in a moving scene that ends with Giovanni killing Annabella. Half crazed, Giovanni attacks and kills Soranzo and is then himself killed.

The tragedy has a fierce emotional intensity uncommon in Ford's plays. This is particularly reflected in the character of Giovanni, a passionate sceptic who questions the laws of society and religion with a mixture of ardour and bitterness. The eloquence of his scepticism has led to many critics accusing Ford of justifying his hero's behaviour. What is more, the case is that the playwright is operating not within a fixed moral perspective, but with a strong sense of compassion.

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The Playwright

John Ford was born in Devonshire and studied at Exeter College, Oxford. He spent the first fifteen years of adult life practising law in London.

His playwriting career began in earnest about 1620, when he collaborated with Thomas Kekker and William Rowley on 'The Witch of Edmonton'. All of his earliest dramatic works were collaborative efforts. Throughout this apprenticeship period, he steadily developed the dramatic techniques that were to distinguish his major works. The first of these is 'The Lover's Melancholy'. His most successful work is 'Tis Pity She's a Whore'.

Ford was one of the last great Elizabethan dramatists. He made a unique contribution to the rich tradition of the dramatic literature he inherited. Although he lacked the fierce intensity and complex emotional response of his Jacobean contemporaries, he nevertheless brought to the drama a deep and enduring interest in human nature, quickened and illuminated by an all-encompassing passion.

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The Cast

In Order Of Appearance

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The Crew

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Photographs

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Giovanni visits Friar Bonaventura in his cell to confess his feelings.

Grimaldi and Vasques have a minor dispute.

Annabella with her maid Putana

Giovanni reveals his feelings to his sister Annabella

The feeling is mutual!

They become lovers

Soranzo, the poet

Bergetto, an oaf who is also in love with Annabella

Hippolita is spurned by Soranzo

Richardetto and his niece, Philotis

Donado is infuriated by his nephew, Bergetto's stupidity!

Bergetto's unsurprisingly unsuccessful attempt to woo Annabella

Annabella's father, Florio, and Donado look on in interest

Bergetto gives his servant, Poggio, a somewhat graphic description of his wooing technique!

Rebuffed by Annabella, Bergetto decides to marry Philotis instead!

Another suitor for Annabella. This time more successful

An assassination attempt goes wrong. Soranzo is supposed to die, but Bergetto is in the wrong place at the wrong time!

The wedding approaches - beforehand, Annabella goes to the friar for absolution

A plot is hatched to kill Soranzo at the wedding feast

The marriage

Hippolita proposes a toast to the newly weds

But Vasques has swapped the poisoned chalice, and it's Hippolita who dies

Soranzo discovers the truth behind his new wife's history

Putana tells Vasques of Annabella's pregnancy by her brother...

...for which he silences her

Giovanni's final meeting with his sister.

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