Richard III

Synopsis

Or by its full first quarto title of The Tragedy of King Richard the Third, containing his trecherous plots against his brother Clarence: the pittiful murder of his innocent nephews: his tyrannical usurpation: with the whole course of his detested life and most deserved death. Of course, nowadays Richard is seen as much maligned but the image of the hunchback reciting "Now is the winter of our discontent" will remain with us for a long time. Essentially the plot sees Richard assuming the throne after Edward IV and disposing of all those with greater right. He is finally killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field after having pronounced that other great line "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" (shouldn't that be "An horse!"?).

Our Review:

30 April 2001

The trouble with Richard III is that every actor since the 1950s has to compete with the legacy of Laurence Olivier, whose cinematic version still maintains a hold today. Here, the darkly camp Aidan McArdle is definitely a follower of the Olivier school. In fact, he is slightly too camp. As a result, his ruthlessness is kept well hidden and, at times, he seems more like Blackadder than the crookback. But McArdle has a nice flair for humour and, in particular, makes an effective comic double act with Richard Cordery's scheming Buckingham, plotting to be offered the throne.

This production highlights one of the This England disadvantages, of having the same actor playing the same part throughout all the plays. Fiona Bell's Queen Margaret is an old women, bent of revenge but knowing that she's now weak. Her dragging of her son's bones across the stage should provide a moving symbol of loss and helplessness. Unfortunately, Bell is approximately 40 yea...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 1 May 2001:

Agree with your critic's points. A nice touch was that Sam Troughton [who plays Richmond/Henry VII, who kills Richard III] is in real life the eldest son of David Troughton [who plays Henry IV, who has Richard II murdered]. Talk about royal dynasties being played by theatrical dynasties....

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