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...

Its safe to say and needs saying from the outset that I am not one of Mr Shakespeare's greatest fans and watching two three hour odd productions in two days would not always fill me with a warm glow. However over the last couple of months, the Northampton University (of all current three years) have shown talent in abundance and I was never going to let my petty opinion deprive me of seeing them again. This year I had seen both Troilus and Cressida (by the Masque Theatre) and King Lear (via NTLive) and its safe to say that I enjoyed Macbeth and Richard III more than both of these (yes even with Mr Shakespeare, Simon Russell Beale in action). The acting was of course not better than Lear (it was Russell Beale, that would be impossible), but the productions for me were both much more enjoyable to watch. The Shakespeare purist would no doubt cry that there was too much gimmickry with these productions, but for me this made them more modern and more acceptable. I listen to Shakespe...