The White Devil is one of the great underrated plays of the Jacobean era. In this vibrant Handbook, Stephen Purcell offers an in-depth, performance-focused exploration of John Webster's thrilling, unsettling and darkly comic tragedy. The Handbook includes: an overview of the play's cultural context excerpts from historical sources a scene-by-scene commentary on the play as it unfolds on stage case studies of four modern productions, featuring interviews with directors an outline of key critical writings on the play, from the seventeenth century through to today.