Richard III
By William Shakespeare
HOME, 30 April 2019
This was a terrific production of Shakespeare’s great damnation drama, an anatomy of a murderer.
After the War of the Roses, Richard (a brilliant portrayal by Tom Mothersdale) is feeling like one of the left behind. Or maybe he is like the country itself: divided, misshapen, deformed. Unfit for peace time and a courtly life, he resolves to do evil, to chase the chimera of golden sovereignty. To win the crown.
There is blood and gore aplenty here, and a thrilling tussle with blades at the end, not unlike that between Macbeth and Macduff. Shakespeare loved that: hero and villiain fighting it out at the end.
Some other things to watch out for here include a scene with Richard and his mother, where his malicious pose slips somewhat (it is poignant,but not too much), some unsettling seductive/courtship scenes (he is a demon lover too) and a Catholic vibe that is present throughout, to a degree. Richard, devil incarnate, is pitted against Christ Pantokrator, King of Kings. That is who he will have to answer to.
Despite everything, you root for Richard because he is rude and vital and canny enough to take on the elites with their sense of entitlement and their defence of the status quo. He wages ‘all out war’ against them all, as the Tim Shipman book has it. Mind, the crown, sovereignty remains difficult to attain and hold onto. Nothing much has changed in England.
Richard III is showing at HOME until 4 May, further details can be found here.
Jildy Sauce 