SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewRichard III
|
A murderous villain, and so still thou art. — Queen Margaret
|
Kevin Spacey as King Richard III (Photo: Alastair Muir) |
Why is Spacey so brilliant as the "bottled spider" usurper? Because Richard III can be full of black humour, of irony and this is a master class in ironic acting. Crook backed Dick is a mass murderer whose worst excesses of treachery we are here to enjoy. I had a brilliant view from Row K in the Old Vic stalls but some of the action in this modern production is live streamed onto a giant screen for all to enjoy Spacey's facial range of audience titillation. Remember this is the theatre where Lawrence Olivier first played Richard III in 1944.
The opening scene with the famous "Winter of discontent" speech is played with the hunched figure of Richard of Gloucester centre on a bare stage, his deformed profile in strong shadow relief on the far wall and on his head a paper party crown. Above him a screen shows Edward IV (Andrew Long) Richard's brother the recently crowned king. This opening line features the son /sun pun with winter/summer and sets the comic tone.
Spacey's Richard seethes bitterness and malice. His progress across the stage with his left leg in splint, his body terribly twisted, is riveting. He falls over at his coronation in a rare poignant moment. Spacey gives a naturalness to many of Shakespeare's speeches as if the words are his rather than those of the Bard. You could understand not a word of English and still enjoy Kevin Spacey's performance as Richard III.
It is Edward's queen and later widow Elizabeth (Haydn Gwynne) who takes the female acting honours in a production otherwise rather unbalanced with such a tour de force from Kevin Spacey. Haydn Gwynne described as the "poor painted queen" has remarkable eyebrows and a range of expression to match Spacey's own, all without the benefit of the video close up. Gemma Jones lurks as the aged and sinister Margaret of Anjou, Henry VI's widow and ousted queen, cursing everybody and marking each death off on the multiple doors which line the stage with a giant X.
The Duke of Buckingham (Chuk Iwuji) is played as an apologist, praise singer or PR agent for Richard in this modern dress production until of course he defects to the other side. I liked the Duke of Clarence (Chandler Williams) in evening dress with a white silk scarf but his appearance in the Tower shows him filthy and badly treated before the executioners arrive. Annabel Scholey's Lady Anne strayed into shouting and the sexual nature of the scene with Richard did not work. Like the others of these plays for The Bridge Project in previous years, the casting never seems ideal but on this occasion there is no excuse that they are perfect for another role in another play, as this year's programme includes but one play.
The little princes are rather ridiculous, played by adult women in clumsy wigs. What can director Sam Mendes have been thinking? We know this production has to tour to strange places, off the beaten theatre track like Belgrade and Tokyo and so presumably the recruiting of local children to play the wee boys was not an option. But thinking about it more deeply, what these unsympathetic figures do is to remove the distress and pity on hearing of the deaths of two sweet children and so it is easier not to take Richard too seriously.
Each scene in Mendes' production features a title, the words projected so that the letters cast lengthening shadows like television montage. The citizens in black coats and hats strap hang on a tube train like a painting by Magritte with clouds on the sky. The Royals pose for publicity photographs like a celebrity ridden award ceremony.
Do anything you can to secure a ticket to see Spacey's Richard III. Looking back to my review of his playing Richard II in 2005 I said,"Maybe Kevin Spacey would consider playing the next Richard in the series." Where for him to go next? Shylock?
|
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe,
E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
| Richard III
Written by William Shakespeare Directed by Sam Mendes Starring: Kevin Spacey, Haydn Gwynne, Annabel Scholey, Gemma Jones, Andrew Long, Chuk Iwuji, Chandler Williams With: Howard W Overshown, Jack Ellis, Isaiah Johnson, Nathan Darrow, Gavin Stenhouse, Michael Rudko, Gary Powell, Jeremy Bobb, Maureen Anderson, Katherine Manners, Hannah Stokely, Stephen Lee Anderson Set Design: Tom Piper Costume Design: Catherine Zuber Lighting: Paul Pyant Projection: Jon Driscoll Composer: Mark Bennett Sound: Gareth Fry Production sponsored by Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and American Airlines Running time: Three hours and 15 minutes including an interval Box Office: 0844 871 7609 Booking to 11th September 2011 New York: BAM Dates: 10th January 2012 to 4th March 2012 Tickets to go on sale in the fall of 2011 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 5th July 2011 performance at the Old Vic, Waterloo Road, London SE1 8NB (Rail/Tube: Waterloo) |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email . . . also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. |
