THE WHITE DEVIL Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the Globe’s intimate indoor 17th century theatre, is lit by candlelight, chandelier and handheld; and this is perfect for The White Devil, John Webster’s dark chamber of horrors. Jacobean audiences liked nothing better than sadistic, gory melodrama; the more murders the better. A stage filled with corpses made for ideal entertainment. The characters are cruel and violent, obsessed with corruption and death. The play was very popular in the 17th century but completely ignored in the 18th and 19th centuries. Bernard Shaw dismissed Webster as a Tussaud Laureate.