Past shows at Howard Theatre, Downing College

• The Duchess of Malfi

  February 2011
  "Cover her face. Mine eyes dazzle: she died young." Intrigue, incest and murder – Webster’s iconic play centres around the lonely figure of the Duchess of Malfi, her court disintegrating under the web of spying and suspicion set up by her manipulative, deadly brothers. Our production will be set in 1930s Italy, gesturing towards an era of political instability and growing menace. We're also looking to work in some film elements, as well as playing on the hints of drug abuse, mental illness and illicit sexual desire in the play.

• The Relapse

  February 2010
  The Downing Dramatic Society is proud to present The Relapse by John Vanbrugh. First produced 1696, it is one of England’s most beloved Restoration comedies, featuring biting social satire that is still popular today. Vanbrugh contrasts fashionable London life with provincial sensibilities through a menagerie of outrageously comic characters including: reformed rogue husband Loveless, his virtuous wife Amanda, her ardent admirer Worthy, buxom widow Berinthia, peacock beau Lord Foppington, his profligate younger brother Tom Fashion, his perpetually plastered manservant Lory, their lecherous matchmaker Coupler, cantankerous country squire Sir Tunbelly Clumsy, his innocent yet up for it daughter Hoyden, her faithful governess Nurse and the buffoonish parson Bull. To be presented in high period style, at the brand new luxurious Howard Theatre, this show is not to be missed.