A royal passion

Is it romantic love or gothic necrophilia when a grieving king exhumes the corpse of his assassinated mistress and stages an eerie coronation ceremony, where his subjects must kneel to the woman they once scorned?

It is a strange quasi-vampiric ending to a 14th century story of forbidden passion that has famously inspired at least three operas, several plays, and one Spanish film (1944), and Alice de Sousa's full-blooded version certainly raises questions about why Hollywood producers haven't rushed towards this tragic, twisted story with tongues lolling and cheque books at the ready.

As the Greenwich Playhouse's artistic director, de Sousa produces a highly diverse classic repertoire, crowned by successful adaptations of pearls from the Portuguese literary canon. Here, director Bruce Jamieson whisks the audience firmly back to the 14th century to hear about the frustrated passions and power struggles of women who look as if they have stepped out of medieval paintings, and men dressed in furs that so much resemble the original animal you would not be surprised if they started howling.

Sally Vanderpump takes centrestage as Ines de Castro, the Spanish lady-in-waiting who challenges tradition as mistress of the married heir to the Portuguese throne, yet is every inch the pre-feminist romantic heroine. Less opinionated than Romeo's Juliet, and less stirringly tragic than Aeneas's Dido, Vanderpump's Ines is strikingly pretty and vulnerable, but rather too meek and passive to achieve either sympathy or credibility as a woman who maintains a high-profile love affair despite several death threats.

Jamieson's robustly confident production can also seem too filmic with its swelling score, yet it is undeniably slick and boosted by solid and enjoyable performances. There is no doubt that it is ripe for celluloid treatment. Who knows, we may see Gwyneth's Ines yet.

Until 8 June. Information: 020 8858 9256.

Ines De Castro