'A two-hour version omitting the Politik Would-bes and Volpone's children. [...] There was a strong commedia influence. Except for a bed and a throne for the single judge, the only important furniture was the window-frame structure Celia herself carried on for the Scoto scene. A low velvet curtain at one end was opened to reveal Volpone's gold or, in the trial, the man himself (upright in a fur-lined chair).

Most of the costumes were black and white, so that when the characters struck stylised poses there was an effect of animated etchings.

The production was beautifully spoken and avoided obvious comic business in the bedroom scenes so that major details, like Mosca flattering gold out of his master, emerged tellingly.

Volpone himself was a sober, stocky aristocrat with pride in his acting technique. He felt his way into his pretended symptoms one by one. He assumed that Celia would wish to share his pleasures: when her rather matronly refusal became tedious, he simply and viciously began to rape her. Bonario was played as a gangly fool [...].'

Tony Howard, RORD 29 (1986-1987), 58-9