Jonathan Munby will direct a cast that includes Claire Price, Darrell D'Silva and Aidan McArdle.
The production marks a departure for a venue that has been more typically associated with musical revivals like Sunday in the Park with George (that transferred to the West End and Broadway), Little Shop of Horrors (that moved to the West End's Duke of York's, then New Ambassadors) and the current production of They're Playing Our Song, starring Connie Fisher and Alistair McGowan, that runs to Sept. 28.
According to press materials, The White Devil promises to be an intense and passionate production ideally suited to the intimate space of the Menier Chocolate Factory. Webster's play, based on actual events, delves into the darkest recesses of the human condition in this visceral and explosive celebration of poetry and theatre. When the adulterous Brachiano (played by D'Silva) and Vittoria (Price) become involved in a dangerous affair, an explosive conclusion seems inevitable. In a corrupt and savage Italy, where no one is who they seem, the individual must fight for survival against the structures that define their very existence: the State, the Church and their own sense of right and wrong.
Webster, who was a late contemporary of Shakespeare, also wrote The Duchess of Malfi, and collaborated with other playwrights on a number of joint works.
Munby's directing credits include Henry V (Royal Exchange, Manchester), the RSC's production of The Canterbury Tales (for which he was one of three directors presenting the complete tales, seen at Stratford-upon-Avon, then the West End's Gielgud Theatre and on tour in Washington, DC), A Number and The Comedy of Errors (Sheffield's Crucible Theatre), and Tartuffe, The Venetian Twins and Dancing at Lughnasa at Newbury's Watermill Theatre. He is currently represented by a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in rep at Shakespeare's Globe to Oct. 4. Claire Price, whose TV credits include "Rebus" and "Inspector Rebus," has previously appeared in the West End in Ibsen's Brand in 2003 and in Michael Grandage's production of Don Carlos. Other theatre credits include playing Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at Sheffield's Crucible and Miranda in The Tempest, also at Sheffield before moving to the Old Vic in 2003.
Darrell D'Silva appeared at the National Theatre in Tales from the Vienna Woods in 2003, Peter Shaffer's The Royal Hunt of the Sun in 2006 and Tennesee Williams' The Rose Tattoo last year. For the RSC, his credits include playing Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Richard Jones in 2002, and the title role in Dr. Faustus. In the West End he has appeared in Pirandello's Absolutely (Perhaps) at Wyndham's in 2003.
Aidan McArdle was seen in the film "The Duchess" and played the title role of Richard III for the RSC.
The cast also features Ross Armstrong, Dylan Charles, Claire Cox, John Dougall, Christopher Godwin, Louis Hilyer, Golda Rosheuvel, Nitzan Sharron and Sandra Voe.
To book tickets contact the box office at 020 7907 7060 or visit www.menierchocolatefactory.com.
