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:

12 June 2003

This is the first all-female Shakespeare from the ever-inventive Shakespeare's Globe company. To complement its all-male productions, there are two with the ladies this year - which might mollify those actresses who feel they don't get a crack at Shakespearean roles.

At first sight, Richard III might be a strange choice for the gender switch, given the martial and bloody nature of much of the play. But then recall that the most famous portrayal of Richard ever is the richly camp Olivier performance, and you can imagine how the part could be adapted to feminine qualities.

What's more, the history also has a rich array of small but powerful female parts, from the fearsome Queen Margaret (here ferociously played by Linda Bassett) to the unhappy Anne. There's a stunning scene between three women grieving at their losses. Richard's mother, the old queen Margaret and Elizabeth, King Edward's widow, find common ground as they intone the names of the man...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.107.230.136) - 30 July 2003:

A gimmick that only seldom works - although as a card-holding anti-discrimination and anti-racism supporter, I am amazed that we still feel the need to practice this sort of tosh. We don't feel the urge to put on "Shakespeare where all actors names are Smith" (Oh God, what I have I done now!) so why any other kind of false and pointless limitations. I have tried to suspend my horrors at the concept to concentrate on the performance and true there are some good parts but I regret supporting the concept with my ticket. Don't be as weak as me - avoid it....

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