BBC Documentaries

The Mysterious Mr Webster (2014x122)

Air date: May 24, 2014

The son of a coach-maker with a highly developed sense of the macabre, Jacobean dramatist John Webster's life was shadowy and his plays darkly imagined. His masterpiece The Duchess of Malfi is a gothic tale of forbidden love, intrigue, betrayal and murder, and was the most frequently performed play of the period not written by Shakespeare. In this documentary, Professor James Shapiro goes in search of the mysterious man behind the play, piecing together the fragments of Webster's life and exploring how he came to write The Duchess of Malfi just at the moment when the Jacobeans were inventing modern indoor theatre. Featuring contributions by Gemma Arterton, who plays the title role in The Globe's candlelit production, which can be seen on BBC Four on Sunday