by John Ford
Adapted and produced by Martyn C. Webster

'Tis pity indeed that John Ford's most celebrated and most powerful play should be so handicapped by its unnecessarily ugly and completely ridiculous title. Completely ridiculous because it is a completely false description of Annabella, who is not deliberately and certainly not professionally immoral. She and her brother Giovanni are 'rapid falcons in a snare,' an ill-starred boy and girl caught in one of nature's most insidious traps. When they are not blinded by their passion they see the nature of their sin with hideous clearness. They are pitiful in their remorse, and their end is high tragedy. Indeed, the whole play is cast in a mould of high tragedy.
(S.W.)