Zita takes on Duchess of Malfi challenge

For a woman taking on the main role in one of the darkest, most violent plays in English-language theatre, Zita Monahan is remarkably upbeat. The Dublin-born, Galway-based actor is in rehearsals for The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster’s powerful drama of love and revenge, written in 1612.

Set in Italy in the early 16th century, the play begins as a love story as the powerful duchess marries a man of her own choosing. But when her two domineering brothers learn that she has married in secret to a man beneath her socially, they exact a terrible revenge.

The Duchess of Malfi, being staged by Galway’s Theatrecorp Company, will open in the City’s Black Box theatre on February 3 and run until February 7.

“I want to do the role justice because it’s written so well, and the Duchess is such an incredible character” says Zita on a break from rehearsals. “She is a fully fleshed out, independent woman and there’s a roundness to her character,” Zita adds.

However, despite having wealth and status, the Duchess of Malfi lived in an era where women were ruled by men, and by narrow social mores which did not allow them to marry outside their own social circle. The Duchess’s attempt to assert her independence and circumvent these rules led to her downfall in a play with more than its share of blood and dead bodies.

Theatrecorp, under its director Max Hafler, has established a reputation for performing classical dramas and The Duchess of Malfi is no exception.

For more, see this week’s Connacht Tribune