The Duchess of Malfi: a glowing spectacle It felt discombobulating to be journeying to the Globe on a cold, dark winter's night. Like Wimbledon, Ascot and rosé wine, it has always been a part of my summer routine. Still, it never really made sense for plays to be staged at this place so fleetingly each year and, accordingly, Dominic Dromgoole - its ambitious boss - last week threw open the doors to a new indoor venue that will enable it to entertain us all year round. With its smell of freshly cut wood, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse put me in mind of the carpentry classes that Dromgoole and I once used to have to attend at our old alma mater, Millfield in Somerset. The £7.5 million theatre - adjacent to the main stage - is a steeply tiered edifice that seats 340 people. It is based on some old designs for an English theatre that were unearthed in Oxford during the Sixties and which were credited first to Inigo Jones and then to his protégé, John Webb. Dromgoole admitted to me that Shakespeare's epic History Plays would never work in such an intimate space, but added there's no shortage of chamber pieces that will fit into it comfortably. I have to say that his production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi makes his point for him rather eloquently. Gemma Arterton is on great form as the widowed duchess whose wicked brothers - mindful of their inheritances - will stop at nothing to ensure that she does not remarry. It is a nasty, bloody little tale about humanity at its most depraved and it is played out with great relish. The descent into madness of Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria, makes for an especially harrowing spectacle thanks to the brilliant acting of David Dawson. Dromgoole's passion for authenticity extends to the lighting - I counted 84 candles on seven chandeliers - and this invests the piece with more than a touch of Grand Guignol. I fancy that we shall be hearing a lot more of this exciting venue in the months ahead. Until Feb 16, at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.