Theatre review: Punishment Without Revenge (El Castigo sin Venganza)

With Globe to Globe now a regular fixture, it seems a natural next step for the Globe’s annual international strand to expand its horizons and let the foreign companies bring some of their own national classics back to the South Bank. Equally obvious as a starting point are Shakespeare’s near-contemporaries of the Spanish Golden Age, and though Lope de Vega is thought to have written over 2000 plays, there seems to be some consensus that Punishment Without Revenge (El Castigo sin Venganza) is one of his best. I saw an English-language production earlier this year, so it was comparatively fresh in my memory, enough to help me with the story in this production by Spain's Fundación Siglo de Oro company. The Duke of Ferrara (Jesús Fuente) takes a young wife for appearances' sake, but his infamous womanising doesn't let up in the slightest, leaving Casandra (Alejandra Mayo) humiliated. When the Duke is recruited to a crusade, he leaves Casandra in the care of his bastard son Federico (Rodrigo Arribas,) who's been in love with her since he first saw her.

Theatre review: Punishment Without Revenge

A dirty old man marries a young beauty for political reasons, then neglects her. Going off to war, he leaves her alone with his dashing illegitimate son. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? That's the setup for Lope de Vega's Punishment Without Revenge, a tragedy that provides the final installment of the Arcola's mixed, to say the least, Spanish Golden Age season. At least the last play in the repertory is the strongest offering, Laurence Boswell's production finding the drama in the Mediterranean histrionics, but tempering it with a dose of humour that works better than certain comedies I could mention. The central pairing from A Lady of Little Sense is reunited as a more tragic set of lovers, Nick Barber playing the illegitimate son Federico, who's always been promised he'd inherit his father's dukedom.

Theatre review: A Lady of Little Sense

The first chance for the Arcola's Spanish Golden Age rep season to atone for its green-trousered sins is another comedy of arranged marriages. There's nothing spectacular about Lope de Vega's A Lady of Little Sense, but it does have its moments, which at least puts it above the season opener. If there's echoes of a Shakespeare play again, this time it would be The Taming of the Shrew, as once again two very different sisters seek husbands. Nise (Katie Lightfoot) is highly intelligent and educated, but arrogant and abrasive with it. Her younger sister Finea (Frances McNamee) on the other hand is a childlike, clumsy, prattling moron. Finea's dowry is vastly bigger than her sister's to make up for her shortcomings, but it's still not enough for any man to put up with her borderline insanity. Until Nise's favourite suitor Laurencio (Nick Barber) decides to switch his attentions to the wealthier, stupider sister.