The duchess, a high-spirited and high-minded widow, reveals her love for Antonio, steward at her court, and secretly marries him, despite the warnings of her brother, Ferdinand, duke of Calabria, and the Cardinal, and immediately after informing them that she has no intention of remarrying. Their resistance appears to be induced by consideration for their high blood, and by, as Ferdinand later asserts, a desire to inherit her property; there is also a strong suggestion of Ferdinand’s repressed incestuous desire for her.
The brothers place in her employment as a spy the cynical ex-galley-slave Bosola, who betrays her to them; she and Antonio take flight and separate. She is captured and is subjected by Ferdinand and Bosola to fearful mental tortures, including the sight of the feigned corpse of her husband and the attendance of a group of madmen; finally she is strangled with her two children and Cariola, her waiting woman.
Retribution overtakes the murderers: Ferdinand goes mad, imagining himself a wolf; the Cardinal is killed by the now remorseful Bosola, and Bosola is killed by Ferdinand (who, in turn, is also killed by Bosola). Bosola has already killed Antonio, mistaking him for the Cardinal.

This production is adapted from the original script. A copy of the script used for our production is available here.

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