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Discovered among a collection of previously missing British television drama
at the US Library of Congress in 2010, 'The Changeling' was one of two Jacobean
plays by Thomas Middleton produced by Granada in January 1965 under the series
title Blood and Thunder. Both this and 'Women Beware Women' (tx. 11/1/1965) were
adapted and produced by Philip Mackie, Granada's head of drama, who was
responsible for much of the company's 'quality' literary drama in the 1960s. In
adapting the play for television Mackie dispensed with the comic asylum
secondary plot from Middleton and Rowley's original play and compressed some of
the action in order to reduce the length to 75 minutes. While this results in a
slightly perfunctory narrative in places, the key elements of murder, intrigue
and duplicity remain.
The production was directed by Derek Bennett, whose television career began
at Granada (where he directed, among many other productions, the first episodes
of Coronation Street, ITV, 1960-), and was recorded entirely in Granada's
studios in Manchester. Bennett makes good use of a split-level set designed by
Peter Phillips, with a number of scenes shot from above, in long shot, giving
the impression of eavesdropping on conversations as the scenarios of intrigue
and duplicity unfold. A high-contrast lighting design adds to the atmosphere of
deception and dark deeds that permeates the play, the creative staging
successfully conveying the labyrinthine complexity of the castle of Alicante
within which the tragedy unfolds.
Kika Markham is excellent as Beatrice, whose 'changeling' nature causes her
to switch allegiance to the unattractive, murderous De Flores (Derek Godfrey) as
she pursues her ambition to rid herself of Alonzo and marry Alsemero, only to
get herself embroiled in a situation that spirals out of her control, resulting
in her inevitable death at the hands of De Flores in a denouement that fulfils
all the expectations of Jacobean tragedy.
Lez Cooke
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1. A murder for Beatrice (3:51)
