|
Royal Shakespeare CompanyRichard II
Jonathan Slinger (Richard II) Photo by Ellie Kurttz - Copyright RSC
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Michael Boyd
Roundhouse
1 April - 22 May 2008
A review by Tim Jeeves for EXTRA! EXTRA!
And so opens the RSC’s ensemble staging of all eight plays in Shakespeare’s History Cycle; tickets are sparse and growing sparser, but on the basis of this production, go book your tickets for as many of the performances as possible. This is a production in which director Michael Boyd has stripped the play down to its essential focus on the eponymous king – and by eking out a truly fantastic performance from Jonathan Slinger, this has proven to be an inspired decision.
Jonathan Slinger (Richard II) Photo by Ellie Kurttz - Copyright RSC
The necessity of showing 8 plays within as many weeks has meant that the stage design is minimal; a largely bare stage is backed with an industrial looking tower that allows some use of levels throughout the performance. But clever use of ropework has avoided the development of a flat stage – punctuating the performance we have musicians playing harpsichords and horses flying in from above, whilst later the royal court emerges from a trapdoor. The luscious costumes are Elizabethan in styling – and the heavy make-up and camp attitudes of those loyal to the King create a sense of character that lies somewhere between Stanley Kubrik’s A Clockwork Orange and Derek Jarman’s Jubilee – they might not be violent but they are dangerous. The acting of the ensemble provides fine support for the leads, and as might be expected some performances amongst this majority are weaker than others, but Richard Cordery as Wellington and the aforementioned Jonathan Slinger as King Richard are truly splendid. Slinger captures the transition of the King fantastically. Beginning as petulant, camp, self-obsessed and autocratic, the change that occurs within his self-perception echoes the shift he represents – from a medieval view of the sovereign as God’s agent on earth to a stance more contemporaneous of Shakespeare, that where the King has a responsibility to his subjects. From Richard’s time on, debate was possible as to whether the monarch deserved their title. This transition is well managed by Boyd’s direction. An easy visual cue for the change is given when Richard rubs off his make-up and throws away his wig. A lesser director would have left it there, but Boyd then takes the ritual of transformation further by providing us with a truly beautiful sequence where Richard’s power is washed away from him as he stands under a pillar of cascading fine sand - a theatrical moment that will stay with me for a long time. The performance of Slinger in the succession scene; a key section to any successful production of the play is magnificent and builds perfectly on his earlier characterisation.
Luke Neal (Lord Vernon), Hannah Barrie (Queen Isabel) and Jonathan Slinger (Richard II) Photo by Ellie Kurttz - Copyright RSC
I came away from the play in that magical state of quietude that witnessing magnificent art can induce. If the rest of the cycle brings out performances such as this, then it will be remembered for a very long time to come.
Ticket Info: £10-£30 Box Office: 0844 482 8008
|
-web-3.jpg)
