The Duchess of Malfi is a classroom favourite, with its heroine standing out as one of the most compelling female characters on the early modern stage. Webster's macabre masterpiece examines the familial bonds that bind the widowed Duchess to her over-controlling brothers, foregrounding the intricate networks of connection that link people to each other and to their environments. Progressively breaking down the distinction between insides and outsides, humans and animals, the play reminds us that we are not so very different from all the other creatures on the earth.

An analysis of the play-in-performance foregrounds recent productions inspired by the #MeToo movement, as well as contemporary adaptations such as Allan Palileo's Ang Dukesa ng Malfi (set in the Philippines) and Debo Oluwatuminu's Iyalode of Eti (set in pre-colonial Yorubaland).