If ever there was a tale of more woe than that of Juliet and Romeo, or for that matter bloodier than Titus Andronicus, this may well be it.  Tis Pity She’s a Whore‘s debut was around 1630 and in the nearly 4 centuries since it has, according to Wikipedia, been widely condemned by critics and scholars alike, if not censored entirely.  Only since the mid-twentieth century have they relaxed their moral judgment enough for the complexities and ambiguities of the work to be studied and appreciated.

This production – ‘an excavated classic adapted by Michael Hurst’ – is peppered with modern expletives and an elegant early 20th century look.  It ultimately boils down to another timeless classic exposé of a two faced social order, where insidious corruption and ruthless moral judgements make for conniving and bloodthirsty bedfellows.

Revelling in good old mediaeval gore, many in the audience were delighted by the various graphic agonising bloody deaths that augment the drama throughout.  This is a tale of life among the ‘haves’ as a twisted circus of evil clowns and naive fools.

Giovanni (Glen Pickering) and his sister Annabella (Bonnie Soper), are in love.  Clearly a pair of souls driven by passion over logic, they give in to their shared passion and embark on a secret incestuous affair.  Meanwhile a number of suitors vie for Annabella’s heart but she rejects all bar the most eligible Soranzo (Curtis Vowell), who will later become her husband of convenience, with tragic results.

Giovanni and Annabella skip over the boundary between emotive passion and cornball sap a little, but for the most part they  are worthy romantic leads.  Even given their awareness that their incestuous union is a sin before the eyes of their creator, they remain among the purest of heart and least corrupt characters in the piece.  Their case is still quite a challenge, even to today’s moral standards, and their success in winning the audience’s sympathy is a testament to the performances of Pickering and Soper under Michael Hurst’s strong and clear direction.

Other turns of note include Michelle Blundell’s increasingly high-strung Putana, tutoress to Annabella and the most tortured innocent, and Morgana O’Reilly who well fits her vampish role of scorned conspirator Hippolita – her boldly suggestive and hauntingly off-key fan-dance deserving special note.  The story’s most interesting character, Soranzo’s manservant Vasquez, is balanced between loyal commitment and self-serving gratification, this two-faced demeanor well portrayed by Semu Filipo.  Other performers shone less, but no-one stood out as a weak link.

Victoria Ingram and Elizabeth Whiting’s costume design is ninety percent black, and appropriately so.  The modern elegance of the clothing, coupled with the minimalist set design of John Verryt which is distinguished primarily through a striking light design by Jeremy Fern, do not clash at all but rather work in well with the archaic text.  Jason Smith’s score and sound design have a similar unobtrusive subtlety, such as the echoing church which I was only made consciously aware off when it was pointed out to me.

I haven’t yet seen the Ensemble Project’s other work Based on Auckland, playing on alternate nights with the same cast, but simply knowing they are performing an original local modern devised piece in tandem with this grisly olden-day tragedy seems like something of a superhuman feat from a young, spunky and most capable ensemble.

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