The White Devil (1612) isn’t the sort of text you’d be advised to read without a decent set of footnotes. John Webster’s dense, complex, witty tragedy of Italian lust, infidelity and conspiracy has much to offer to those prepared to give it time and patience, but these are not qualities evident in Jonathan Munby’s ill-advised production.

The Menier stage has been reconfigured into a traverse arena. Right from the start, when Bracciano and Vittoria edge towards the adultery that is the motor of the frighteningly misogynistic plot, everything is taken at a tremendous lick, which here smacks of a general lack of confidence.

There is such stamping and huffing through the two sets of doors that, as the double-crossing becomes triple and the incredible body count mounts up, events seem ridiculous, pantomimic even, rather than tragic.

These corridors of power should positively ooze with state and religious corruption, not the mild panic and mediocre acting on offer here. The spirited Claire Price tries hard as Vittoria, a woman valiantly trying to survive the machinations of a phallocentric culture but she’s given little support. The pivotal role of her pimping, grasping brother, Flamineo, should be a gift for an actor yet Aidan McArdle makes hard work of it. The devil here is in the lack of detail.

Until 15 November (020 7907 7060, www.menierchocolatefactory.com)