THE Government health warning-style title of Thomas Middleton's Jacobean tragedy does what it says on the script, although the leading male characters do not come out of it too well either.

Beginning as a simple love story, with merchant's clerk, Leantino, bringing his new wife, Bianca, daughter of a wealthy Venetian family, back to Florence, it is not long before Bianca catches the eye of the Duke of Florence.

What the Duke wants, he gets, aided and abetted by the scheming courtiers, Livia and Guardino.

Once the Duke (Tim Pigott-Smith) has had his way with the, at first, reluctant Bianca (Hayley Atwell), she is transformed into a petulant, materialistic mistress to the Royal, leaving Leantino to rue his lost love.

Embittered, he, in turn, is seduced by Livia as well as being bought off by the Duke.

Running alongside this main story line is a sub plot in which none other than Livia tricks her niece, Isabella (Emma Cunniffe), into an incestuous relationship with her own uncle, Hippolito (Rob Edwards).

Ultimately, the two strands converge, with tragic and fatal consequences.

Penelope Wilton, as Livia, pretty much steals the show, revelling in the machinations of the character but engaging the audience all the while.

Elliot Cowan enlists sympathy as Leantino in a performance which mutates from heady romance and light comedy to vindictiveness over his wife's betrayal.

Well worth seeing. The production runs until Saturday, April 1.

Review by PETER McMILLAN