A Small Mind At The Theatre

While I would never consider myself anywhere knowledgable about the good old Bard, I did believe I had enough knowledge to know that Richard III was not one of his comedies. However, this totally striking and visually amazing version from Headlong (and co-production with Alexandra Palace and Bristol Old Vic, with Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Oxford Playhouse) ploughs so much dark and brilliant comedy from the situations of Richard dispatching his enemies that you could easily be mistaken. Richard III is without doubt about Richard, maybe that is unsurprising, however, unlike any other named play perhaps, with this one, others rarely matter. There are no side plots, we have no fool for instance, in fact, nothing much other than Richard and his devilish plotting to power. Perhaps here in this cut version (still 150 minutes including the interval), Richard is, even more, the centre of attention. We don't generally get to know many of his victims much before he is dispatc...

As a theatregoer, there is nothing worse than having a feeling that you are watching something above your intelligence level, a feeling that the words are getting beyond you either at such a pace or for myself with Shakespeare, they are not making a lot of sense. Act one of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross was one of those moments, as the writer and performers deliver fast-paced dialogue, which while clearly more understandable than the great bard of old, leaves very little breathing room for taking it all in. Zone out for one second, like a dog spotting a squirrel and you are back on a hiding to nothing for a few moments trying to catch the thread again. However, this is all relative, isn't it? One person's attention span or intelligence level is different to everyone else, hence my unworthiness has to allow for the fact that this award-winning play, Pulitzer prize no less, has had remarkable success since its world premiere in 1983 at the National Theatre. The s...