The Duchess of Malfi revived

"Brutal" and "gory" are two words Eve Best uses to describe director Jamie Lloyd's current revival of the Jacobean tragedy The Duchess of Malfi, in which she stars.

The actress told The Andrew Marr Show that the "dense, knotty" language meant it had taken her a month to learn her lines, despite her previous experience preparing for "more rhythmically coherent" Shakespearean plays.

John Webster's play tells the macabre story of Best's character, a widowed Duchess, who re-marries against the wishes of her malevolent brothers, propelling them to exact murderous revenge.

You can watch the Andrew Marr Show in full on the BBC iPlayer