Richard III review, Hampstead Theatre

This has to be one of the bloodiest and campest productions of Richard III in recent times: there are moments when it's like watching Frank'n'Furter transplanted from the Rocky Horror Show to the battlefields of the north.  Buckets of blood and deaths by chainsaw, drill and, in the second half, Richard biting the fingers off his dead wife to undo her embrace, reinforce a sense of almost comic book mayhem on the stage at Hampstead Theatre.  This play is anything but funny, however, and one couldn't help thinking that the gravity real women bring to grief would have provided vital dramatic ballast in this all-male version of the tragedy. This isn't drama, though: it's theatrics.

I've got the hump with you, Pal.

That said, the theatrics are intriguing at worst - a set made up of scaffolding and hospital screens, a cast in Victorian frock coats and a chorus in white balaclavas that are a cross between old Y fronts and surgical bandages - and dead impressive at best. Literally. The chorus sings beautifully and Frank - sorry, Richard - is beguiling till his plans fall apart at the end. With slicked back Billy Idol hair and a hump that suggests too many evenings hunched over a screen watching internet porn, he gimp-jumps his way onto the throne with sexy insouciance. I passed three people with worse limps on the way to the theatre.

Propeller produce stonking all-male Shakespeare with Edward Hall, now artistic director of Hampstead Theatre, at their helm.  Their revival of A Midsummer Night's Dream was one of the funniest and finest I've seen. I'm just not sure this particular production works for those without sound knowledge of English history.

In conclusion: Richard III concludes the Histories series and is a poetic tying together of strands, but on its own can become a tableau of gore, particularly if treated too heartily. This inventive rendition will be enjoyed by those who know the detail. If you don't, it may be a little too schizophrenic to make sense.

References:
Propeller Theatre Company
Hampstead Theatre Tickets and information
Michael Coveney in The Stage


Hampstead Theatre is on Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London NW3 3EU. This production is now closed.