Former Bond girl Gemma Arterton stars in Webster’s dark tale of love and revenge, The Duchess Of Malfi, the first play in the new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Arterton plays the title role of the Duchess, a young widow desperate to be wed to her steward Antonio. Her two controlling brothers, the Cardinal and Ferdinand, would not have her remarry. When Bosola, placed among the Duchess’ household to spy in her, discovers that the marriage has taken place and that the Duchess has had Antonio’s children, he informs his masters, setting in motion a hideous revenge.

Webster’s Jacobean tragedy, which was first performed by Shakespeare’s company, The King’s Men, opens the newly built Sam Wanamaker Theatre, the new indoor space at Shakespeare’s Globe that is lit entirely by candlelight.

Arterton, whose films include Byzantium, Tamara Drewe and Quantum Of Solace, returns to the venue where she made her professional debut.