STAGE REVIEW : ‘Malfi’ Caught Speeding in Glendale

The unexpected result of director Sabin Epstein’s abridged edition of John Webster’s “The Duchess of Malfi,” presented by A Noise Within in Glendale, is that, by the end of the play, all seven of the characters in this version are dead.

The fast-moving production provokes, of all things, a smile, which is not what this tale of blood, corruption, implied incestuous longing and betrayal is supposed to do. Receiving this play is like getting a message in shorthand.

The intentions are good, since the relentlessly brooding vision of this normally long and complex play can put a strain on one’s desire to cope with it at all. But in Epstein’s wish to avoid that kind of damage, he underestimated the potential for confusion when you speed up an already confusing play.

Add to that the difficulty of understanding the strangely accented words emerging from Robert Pescovitz as the ruthless Bosola (partly the fault of the room’s echoey acoustics) and you find yourself playing catch-up with an accelerated plot.

That plot involves the widowed Duchess of Malfi (Lynnda Ferguson) who flies in the face of her two brothers--her twin, Ferdinand (James Michael Connor), and the older Cardinal (Joel Swetow). In their own selfish desire to control her and her fortune, they’ve warned her not to remarry.

When, out of love, she secretly weds her steward Antonio (Eric David Johnson) and bears a child, it unleashes a graphic cycle of violence and hysteria in which Bosola is a central villain--first as spy for the brothers, later by bungling his repentance. Madness, rage and murder decimate everyone, including the Cardinal’s profligate mistress (Jill Hill) and the Duchess’ waiting woman Cariola (Gail Shapiro).

Tough stuff that in the main the actors carry off with customary flourish. Occasionally, too much flourish. This is a company of trained classical artists who, when in doubt, tend to go over the top.

These mild spasms of overacting contradict aspects of Epstein’s interpretation, such as the modernity of Ferguson’s lucidly spoken and reasoned Duchess. She’s the aggressor who ignites fire in Antonio, yet Johnson’s servant, fearful of abusing his position, is too subdued for sparks to fly between them.

At the other end of the spectrum, Connor’s Ferdinand, crazed with unspeakable love for his sister, is given to hysterical responses. They are ultimately closest to the right tone for the play, but cohabit uneasily with the restraint too often shown by others.

Something the Noise Within actors always do well is perform by indirection, and Shapiro’s Cariola has moments of witty silence as she watches dispassionately while the Duchess and Antonio drown in each other’s arms. And with every entrance and exit she makes as the Cardinal’s mistress, Hill speaks volumes in body language about women as rebellious chattel.

“Malfi” continues in repertory with Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus” and Moliere’s “Tartuffe,” wherein Swetow, seen here as the Cardinal, plays the unctuous pseudo-prelate of the title, and Hill delivers a deliciously befuddled ingenue, Mariane--a far cry from her courtesan in “Malfi.”

The pleasure of watching actors tackling different roles from one performance to another is only one of the rewards to be found in this group’s singular commitment to serving up the classics unadorned and in repertory--even if this particular production needs finer tuning, if Beth Levine’s costumes are a bit of a grab-bag and if ways must be found around the acoustics.

* “The Duchess of Malfi,” Glendale Masonic Temple, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Tonight, Dec. 3, 10 and 18, 8 p.m.; Sunday and Dec. 13, 2 p.m.; Nov. 28 and Dec. 12, 4 p.m.; Nov. 29, 7 p.m. Dec. 5 and 19, 9 p.m. Ends Dec. 19. $14; (818) 753-7750. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.