By Thomas Middleton. Directed by Tariq Leslie. An Ensemble Theatre Company production. At the Jericho Arts Centre on Tuesday, July 16. Continues in rep until August 10

I don’t know that I could take a steady diet of Jacobean tragedy, but I do enjoy the occasional taste of this perverse material. It’s kind of the opposite of a palate cleanser. A palate defiler?

A sociopathic, widowed noblewoman named Livia stalks Women Beware Women, which Thomas Middleton wrote around 1621. When the local duke—the play is set in Florence—expresses a desire to bed a newlywed named Bianca, Livia sets things up so that the duke can rape the 16-year-old. Livia also arranges an incestuous affair: she lies to her niece, telling Isabella that her uncle Hippolito, Livia’s brother, isn’t really related to her by blood, so they can go ahead and get it on. In a world in which women are chattel, Livia is addicted to indirect power. “Sin tastes, at the first draught, like wormwood water,” she says. “But, drunk again, ’tis nectar ever after.”

The play’s relationship to morality is slippery. It feigns uprightness. The duke’s brother is a cardinal who rails against sin. There’s a train wreck of deaths at the end, in which you could say that everybody gets their comeuppance. And if you look beyond this unconvincing preaching, the play offers some insight about how society twists us. Bianca, the rape victim, quickly falls for the duke—and the luxury he can provide. In the terms of the play, the duke’s world is the real world, and Bianca is wise to adapt to it. But these are nuances. Mostly, Women Beware Women enjoys transgression in its lurid splendour and relishes the plot twists it affords.

It’s hugely ambitious of the Ensemble Theatre Company to take on this sprawling period piece, and under Tariq Leslie’s direction the troupe does an impressive job with it. Alison Raine is intellectually precise as Livia, and she creates something knifelike with her lean sexiness. Jordan Kerbs makes credible Bianca’s 180-degree turn from smitten bride to pragmatic mistress. And Stephanie Elgersma is winningly vulnerable as Isabella, the incestuous niece. I also enjoyed Joel Garner’s openhearted work as Hippolito, the uncle. A couple of actors struggle to make sense of the 17th-century text, but most company members make its meaning admirably clear.

Vanessa Driveness’s contemporary costumes, which include tennis gear for the lounging elite, mostly work. John Bessette’s set is less helpful; it divides the stage into awkward areas and provides too few exits. And director Leslie makes some odd blocking decisions; sometimes it’s a strong choice to have characters speak directly upstage, but too often here the upstaging is messy.

The most important point, though, is that the characters and the story are clear. Leslie and his team have cooked up a Jacobean feast using Middleton’s recipe. We don’t often get to dine on this kind of fare and it’s well-done here.