John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi is a glorious celebration of the English language, and it is not surprising that it should have been name-checked by two of our greatest 20th-century poets, T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden. It is Eliot, indeed — whose own stage works ironically struggle to maintain a place in the repertoire — whom we should largely thank for the revival in the play’s popularity after several centuries of neglect. The stunningly good new production at the Old Vic proves again that it is more than a blood-drenched gore-fest (though it is that in part).

Under director Jamie Lloyd this is a revival steeped in Gothic atmosphere. Grey mist snakes around the soaring pillars and suspended walkways of Soutra Gilmour’s eye-popping castle-cum-cathedral design. James Farncombe’s sombre lighting contributes to the eldritch effect, as figures — now cowled, now masked — pass beneath the arches about their dark deeds. Meanwhile, Ben and Max Ringham’s sound design supplies aural illustration of much that is stressed in the text — the distant ringing of bells, the caw of ravens, the screech of owls — and some plangent music.

Acting performances are of an exceptional quality, taking their cue from the skilful, sympathetic portrait Eve Best gives of the widowed duchess. Though her grandeur is never in doubt we see her human side, too, as she chooses to love with her heart, rather than submitting to the rigid code of conduct expected of her class.

She defies her odious brothers Duke Ferdinand (Harry Lloyd, nicely underplaying the incestuous jealousy central to his character’s make-up) and the Cardinal (Finbar Lynch), not only in her decision to marry again but, worse, to commit herself to someone way beneath her on the social ladder. The secret nuptials, supervised by her servant Cariola (Madeline Appiah), are with the strapping young Antonio (Tom Bateman) who, as her steward, thereby achieves the preferment devoutly wished for by Malvolio.

The long approach to their first kiss gives an exquisite build-up of dramatic tension (with an almost ‘audible’ silence throughout from the spellbound audience). The evident chemistry between the two — seen again later in a joshing bedroom scene, made accidentally funnier on Monday by the near collapse of the bed — will delight those who remember Tom, a rising star, from his days on the Oxford amateur stage. “She stains the time past, lights the time to come” — Antonio’s pre-marriage assessment of the duchess’s qualities is beautifully spoken.

Tension of an altogether nastier sort comes with the murder of the duchess in a gruesomely presented strangulation — as credible as any stage death I have seen. This follows her lengthy dialogue with her brothers’ appointed agent of death, Bosola (Mark Bonnar), an astonishing hard-bitten villain in the mould of Macbeth’s principal murderer. In this scene is found much of the play’s great poetry, compellingly delivered by both actors. One might have hoped, perhaps, that tough nut (later repentant) Bosola had not been obliged to spout in the strong Glaswegian accent so often awarded in the theatre to men of his kind. But it can’t be denied that he still sounds very good.

Until June 9. For tickets call 0844 871 7628 (www.oldvictheatre.com).