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The White Devil, by John Webster was a class project for my third year during graduate work. It details a fictionalized version of the true events that occurred during the reign of Francisco de Medicis', the Duke of Florence. Intrigue, peccadilloes and deceit are the main weapons of the court that surrounds the Duke. A local courtier, Flamineo, is married to the Duke's sister, Isabella. However, he has fallen madly for the married Vittoria, and she for him. Flamineo arranges the murders of Isabella and Vittoria's husband so that the two lovers may flee. They are chased by the Duke and his trusted servants (all in disguise) and are eventually caught out in their string of lies and deceit and nearly all involved with the show are killed. One of the few survivors is Flamineo's son, Giovanni, who witnesses the brutal end.
My concept revolved around the differences between Flamineo and the Duke. Flamineo is passionate and reactionary, while the Duke is more calculating and understands there are consequences to his actions. Flamineo's choices slowly begin to limit how much of the space is illuminated, forcing him onto various paths, alleys of light visualizing that his own decisions have limited his options further and further until there is only one path left to him: death. The Duke's lighting allowed him to use the entire space for the majority of time, that his choices left him with options because he had considered all of the alternatives and his careful selections began to trap Flamineo while leaving himself free.
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