‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore

René Augesen and Michael Hayden star in American Conservatory Theater’s revival of John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. Carey Perloff directs .

Considered one of the most controversial works in the English language, the play explores a deadly erotic obsession between siblings Giovanni and Annabella. With clear and gripping poetry, Ford paints a decadent landscape of greed and corruption, helmed by a vicious, amoral clergy. Living with no moral guidance or spiritual grounding, and in a society where women are possessions hawked to the highest bidder, the pair is left to their own dangerous devices — with brutal consequences.