"Problematic" is a great go-to adjective to describe Women Beware Women. This 1621 Jacobean tragedy is by English playwright Thomas Middleton, who is probably best remembered as a collaborator with William Shakespeare on their pessimistic tragedy Timon of Athens.
Middleton notoriously ends Women Beware Women with an unusually high body count that strains credibility. And the journey there is a misogynistic minefield by the shocking way that Middleton's bitchy and backstabbing characters behave throughout.
Nonetheless, the play fascinated Kevin V. Smith and Daiva Bhandari, two longtime Chicago theater collaborators and the co-founders of the theater company Blue in the Right Way. Their freely adapted take on Women Beware Women at The Edge Theater marks Blue in Right Way's debut production.
As both an adapter and director of Women Beware Women, Smith found "a lot of things that I needed to say, wanted to say about my own gender identity, about my own experiences of gender violence and about the relationship between gender and violence."
Rather than solely using Middleton's text, Smith and Bhandari add contemporary commentary on Women Beware Women. Among the 14-member cast are two trans-femme performers who participate in the drama via supporting roles, while also stepping out of it to share sideline perspectives.
"This kind of framing device is something I've used multiple times in my work before," Smith said. "It is interesting to me artistically to set one thing next to another—something that feels very modern with a play that addresses—in a problematic way, but still addresses it—similar issues and to see how these two things sit with an audience."
Women Beware Women follows the machinations of Livia, a twice-widowed schemer who eschews taboos around adultery, incest and the potential for rape in order to advance herself and others in 17th century Florence. It's a complex role, arguably of someone who is both trapped by and taking advantage of the harsh constraints of a patriarchal society where women are treated as property.
"Livia is incredible, and it's so fascinating that this role was written 400 years ago of a 39-year-old female antihero," said Bhandari, who also stars as Livia for Blue in the Right Way. "She would be the character of the 'woman to beware' in the title. However, when you read into what she's actually doing, she's working in a way to help other young women up 'for their benefit' in an awful way, by lying and entrapping them."
In an effort to make Women Beware Women more welcoming to a wider Chicago audience, Blue in the Right Way plans to project Sonia Perelló's new Spanish-language translation of the dialogue throughout each performance. Spanish will also be occasionally spoken (with projected English translations) by cast member Kidany Camilo.
"I feel like it's important and something that every theater should be doing," said Smith, adding that other Chicago companies like Teatro Vista and the Goodman Theatre have initiatives to offer simultaneous language translations at all or select performances. "Having traveled and seen theater in different cities throughout Europe, it's not that uncommon to have supertitles when you have a multilingual community."
Smith was also surprised that Blue in the Right Way could find no previous existing Spanish translations of Middleton's text. So, Smith hopes that theater companies from the Spanish-speaking world will consider Perelló's translation of Women Beware Women for future productions.
Lest any traditionalists start carping about the many liberties taken by Blue in the Right Way with Women Beware Women, it should be noted that Middleton's once-obscure play has a history of being tinkered with by modern London theater makers. A 1986 Royal Court Theatre production of Women Beware Women was infused by new dialogue by playwright Howard Barker, while a 2010 National Theatre revival that starred Harriet Walter as Livia was updated to the 20th century by Tony Award-winning director Marianne Elliott.
"There's a lot of artistic risk involved in what we're doing and it's been fantastic to work with this group who's willing to explore and present something in a way that's abstract and creative," said Smith, hoping to "offer a lot to the audience to sit with and think about and feel."
Blue in the Right Way's adaptation of Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women begins previews April 27, with a press opening on April 29 at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway. The regular run continues through May 12 with performances at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 1 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $20-$40. For more information, visit BlueInTheRightWay.com .
