(Rated 4/5 )
I told my
friends/fellow theatre-goers that David Tennant had a lot of work to do to
impress me as Richard II. I was joking in some ways – so confident in “DT” and
his abilities as he has never disappointed me - but having seen two previous
very good performances of “R2” by Eddie Redmayne and Ben Whishaw and been
exceptionally impressed by the latter, who embodied him so perfectly and sensitively,
I was doubtful as to whether DT could match or even top that. I was also
excited to give him that challenge – though of course the man himself knew
nothing about it ;). So who and how was “R2-DT” as he has become affectionately
known to us ever since we first heard that David was going to undertake this
Richard? Well not an immediate hit with me. I was a little put off by his
accent (my issue with posh accents that are not the actor’s own ;)) and, as one
of my friends said, he doesn’t get much to do for some time in this production
of the play. Of course that is the text itself, but The Donmar’s production had
Eddie sitting on the throne as the audience took their seats giving us time to
kind of bond with him. R2-DT does not appear for some time. His transformation
includes long wavy hair extensions and black mascara – he is slim elegant and
beautiful – and he convincingly plays the vanity, narcissism and materialistic
attitudes of Richard II. This Richard is not so much young – well DT is a
little bit older – but his youthfulness comes from a strong yet subtle femininity
that DT gives him. As you see him next to his Queen, played very nicely indeed
by RSC newcomer Emma Hamilton, they are two lovely royal feminine creatures. I
felt really drawn to his Queen – pun very much intended as DT does give his
Richard an element of gay man far be it from a drag version – with whom I could
connect more than Eddie or Ben’s Queens. Michael Pennington has the exciting
task of playing John of Gaunt and so delivering probably the most anticipated
speech in this play, ‘This Sceptered Isle’. His version, while not losing any
of the lilting poetry, still comes across as sort of matter-of-fact – he might
have said ‘This is England and I love it and that’s that’. ;). Oliver
Ford-Davies appears again alongside DT – having played Polonius to his Hamlet –
his interaction with John of Gaunt is good attentive listener, but he shines
later in the humour of his part of the Duke of York, both bumbling, indignant,
fickle and despairing as to the events around him brought about by his nearest
and supposedly dearest. Marty Cruickshank and Jane Lapotaire, as the Duchesses
of York and Gloucester respectively, were delightful. I also really took to
Greene and Bushy – Marcus Griffiths and Sam Marks – not large parts but they
made their presences felt, but not so much to Nigel Lindsay’s Henry
Bolingbroke. I guess if you grow sympathetic to Richard, you’re going to turn
against Henry, though I somehow didn’t feel as much as I’d want from him as a
character – indifference isn’t so good. R2-DT gradually made his way into my
heart – by the end of the performance I was kissing my friend next to me in
delight!
The design,
courtesy of Stephen Brimson Lewis, was very clever – strings of metal onto
which the scenery itself was projected, including as an opener the interior of
Westminster Abbey. The projections changed through the play and I forgot they
were there. I recall really noticing the lyricism of Shakespeare’s words when
delivered in the production at the Donmar. Part way through this I suddenly
remembered that, but somehow it seemed lost in this production. The focus
seemed more on conveying it as more natural speech.
I suppose it is
a very obvious thing to say both how different productions can come across in
such different ways but also show the audience something/s completely new about
the characters, the story; in this case the history. It’s all in the
interpretation, and even in a character so ‘set’ somehow, as you might expect
real-life King Richard II to be, as opposed to a character like Hamlet who can
be literally anything the actor wishes to give him, the actor can give us very
refreshingly new aspects of who he might have been. I think that is especially
true for Shakespeare’s plays – ‘remakes’ can keep on coming, whilst for other plays
– screen or stage – you may sometimes think – what is the point when you’ve
already seen a good version! Here is so much depth in all he wrote and on each
reworking, on each performance of the same reworking, ever more truth about the
human condition and new insights emerge. “R2-DT” is also very opposite to the
image you may get if you think of the little blue droid his nick-name is based
on. As is his way he gives so much feeling to everyone he embodies making his
character leap out and grab the audience’s empathy. He is extra-ordinary with
the emphasis on that extra. As to be expected some of the audience wanted to
clasp at and laugh out loud in response to the tiny nuggets of humour there are
in the play, especially when coming from DT, which was a shame as at times their
loud ‘guffaws’ - more suited to a comedy - took away from the poignancy of
performance. This is probably the farthest away DT has been in performance from
his regeneration of The Doctor. Shakespeare is not even remotely alien to him –
this is DT beauty-fully at home.
Richard II (“R2-DT”) – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2014
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