Slumped in a throne wearing a Christmas cracker hat and blowing a party favour, Kevin Spacey opens
Richard III with beautiful clarity. The War of the Roses appears over, his brother is King, and Richard wants the throne for himself. To this end he will murder kings, princes and pretenders: we are about to witness an extraordinary period in English history. To help us, projections onto the simple, pale grey set identify the character at the heart of each scene: Clarence, Anne, Elizabeth. Director Sam Mendes' staging of this Anglo-American collaboration is as transparent as the plot is dense. So far so good. But two hours later...
Dear Reader, I must now admit to leaving the Old Vic at the interval. I was with two friends who were so incensed by Kevin Spacey's 'gay' portrayal - like a dilapidated Scar from
The Lion King his long, bored face was all grimace and no growl, his paws swatted flies each time he made a dramatic point and his gammy leg dragged behind like a tail - that they refused to sit through more. "Where's the sense of tragedy?" blasted one. "What's wrong with Spacey? His acting's like the skit from
The Goodbye Girl. I can't watch another minute." This at £75 a ticket and it was their treat...
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| It's hard to be a Dick |
So, on the basis of that first two hours, here are my thoughts: I rather enjoyed Spacey - he's not gay, he's louche - Richard Lite. The ensemble is terrific, but in their smart suits they made the passing of death sentences feel like share price discussions. There is no menace or fear, it's too long, the set is limiting, the set pieces are dull. It's possible that the tension heightens when Richard gets to Bosworth Fields, but you may have dozed by then. The production is visually terrific, but it's not compelling and if it's not compelling, is it worth the loss of a summer's night outside?
In conclusion: Two
Richard IIIs in one week is one too many. Neither matches Jonathan Slinger's profoundly malign Richard with the RSC two years ago. The current craze is to play the part for laughs, but when the laughs work, the play doesn't. If you're not huge on the play or Spacey, think before spending.
References
Anglo American collaboration,
The Bridge Project, explained
Kevin Spacey, Wiki biog
Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph
As humorous as the comparison to Scar of The Lion King is,i think this perhaps does Spacey a considerable disservice.
ReplyDeleteI felt his portrayal of Richard as the malign,manipulative and misanthropic despot was fantastic;exuding great madness at the times most relevant:'A horse,a horse,my kingdom for a horse'.One must not ignore the comedic achievements of the play however,looking in particular towards Buckingham's speech,in which Richard's pseudo-piety and dignity are performed with hilarious hyperbole. This particular scene perhaps stands alone in regard to its use of technology,with the majority of the play utilizing a very simple and understated set.This is not to say the use of the stage and set was mundane,quite the opposite in fact,with Mendes' recognition of a script in which no gimmicks were required proving crucial to the success of the play.
This understatement was perpetuated in the executions,as noted in your analysis.I would have to agree in that they could have been executed-pardon the pun- with more impact,however i don't feel this overwhelmingly affected my perception of the play as it appears to have done to yours.
In regard to your concession:'There is no menace or fear, it's too long' i would disagree with the former,referencing in particular the tension and power achieved through the simplicity of the drums;reaching a crescendo in parallel with the action of the play upon the fields of Bodsworth.In terms of the latter, the play could indeed have been 25 minutes shorter.This i note only in reference to my feeling that the second half was not as fluid as the first.In regard to the ensemble casts' efforts and performance,these in no way mitigated with time.
To conclude,i would say this was an incredible production,with the competence of the cast extrapolating all potential from this masterpiece of Shakespeare's.As i noted after the performance on my twitter account:'Richard III was prodigious'.
@RossDlima