The Tragedy of King Richard Ii Nt Live Review

The Tragedy of King Richard II, Almeida Theatre review - Simon Russell Beale leads revelatory interpretation | reviews, news & interviews

The Tragedy of King Richard II, Almeida Theatre review - Simon Russell Beale leads revelatory interpretation

The Tragedy of King Richard Two, Almeida Theatre review - Simon Russell Beale leads revelatory interpretation

Shakespeare'due south study of flawed leadership becomes a parable for our historic period

Wed, 19 Dec 2018

If power for the sake of ability is your obsession, you volition end up the fool: Simon Russell Beale as Richard IIAll photographs © Marc Brenner

Joe Hill-Gibbins' uncompromising product of The Tragedy of Richard II hurtles through Shakespeare's original text, stripping and flaying information technology and so information technology is revealed in a new shuddering lite.

Narcissistic, petulant and indecisive, Simon Russell Beale's Richard stumbles towards his downfall in a prison cell in which information technology is never clear what'southward a figment of his paranoid imagination and what's reality.

Under Rupert Goold's artistic directorship the Almeida has become renowned every bit a theatre where classical texts are given the equivalent of ECT, and Hill-Gibbins apace sets out his intentions by starting time the play at the finish. "I take been studying how I may compare/This prison where I live unto the world," declares Richard, staring out from a stark cell in which the other players stand with their faces to the wall, mutely subservient.

The next moment we're in flashback – the light changes, the jeans-and-t-shirt-clad bandage are moving around the stage, and Richard is adjudicating the argument between Mowbray and Bolingbroke that will eventually spiral into rebellion against his reign. Against Ultz's industrial container-like set – lined with buckets variously labelled as containing "claret", "soil" and "water" – Russell-Beale's Richard sets out his passive-aggressive stall, clearly enjoying the men's animosity towards each other at the same time as he capitalises on it.

In a time convulsed alternately by the absurdities of Brexit, and the mercurial toddlerish impulses of the The states President, it's difficult not to recognise the degree to which Shakespeare's assay of flawed, indecisive leadership is a parable for our historic period. Information technology'southward a strength of the production that it but allows this to sing through the words: there are no hat-tips to Trump, no pause-out Rees-Mogg moments. Yet confronting the harsh, minimalistic aesthetic nosotros are left in no doubtfulness of the black one-act of individuals groping for power only to destroy themselves and one another. Intending to be predators, they reveal themselves every bit selfish children – you doubtable there won't be many Old Etonian politicians selecting this for a work outing.Yet it would be foolish for them – or everyone else – to miss it, for this is a revelatory estimation, marked by an intense and galvanising physicality. In counterpoint to Richard, the rest of the players are almost like a chorus (pictured above), often comically huddled together against a wall, playing multiple roles so they are characterised mainly by their rebellious assailment. Brilliant though the edit of the script is (it'south boiled down to one hour and 40 minutes), there are points when you could almost review this equally a piece of avant-garde choreography. Russell Beale peculiarly is a master of subverting the trunk language of power – often, when he takes on an opponent he conveys the moment of say-so not by standing over them, merely kneeling downwards and whispering hostile intimacies.

Yet as ever, it is his skill in excavating every nuance of the words he delivers that makes this evening what information technology is. One of the most extraordinary moments is when he delivers the famous speech communication in which Richard 2 surveys himself in a mirror after his downfall.

In this production there is nothing as fey as a looking glass to hand: information technology is a bucket of water – no more dignified than a slop pail – into which he stares, while on his knees. "No deeper wrinkles yet?" he proclaims, allowing all the pathos and vanity of his words to resonate. Then, in a moment of brilliance, he sits upward and delivers the residue of the mirror speech to his former subjects. In that subtle linking of speech and move he powerfully conveys how he has never ever seen them as whatever more than a reflection of his own petty desires.Dominant though he is, there are many fine performances from the rest of the cast, not least Leo Bill (pictured above) equally a wirily agile Bolingbroke, and Saskia Reeves, whose multiple roles include a defiant clenched-teeth apotheosis of the rebellious Mowbray. As an ensemble in that location are moments when they nearly piece of work every bit one physical entity – though there are other moments when they are comically at one another's throats. One defining aspect of the production is the mode gloves – worn by everyone but the king – are used: they alternately become gauntlets, boxing gloves, or the kind of protective gloves worn by slaughter-house administration and assassins. The company deploys them almost like a second language – sometimes we laugh at the flicking aggression with which they are used, sometimes they indicate more sinister events to come.

Throughout the evening, Peter Rice's minimal audio design keeps the tension ratcheted up, whether it's the subtle, adrenaline-raising ticking of an invisible clock, or the pulse-mimicking beat of a drum. Like every aspect of this production, it heightens the tautness of Hill-Gibbins's vision as it mercilessly highlights characters who seem like a cross between prisoners and lost souls in an asylum. It shows conspicuously how if ability for the sake of zero just ability becomes your obsession, then it is yous who will end up the fool. "Thus play I in i person many people/And none contented," declares Richard. Maybe those Old Etonian politicians really should book themselves a ticket.

• Richard 2 is at the Almeida Theatre until 2 February
• Read more than theatre reviews on theartsdesk

@Hallibee1

Russell Beale is a master of subverting the body linguistic communication of power

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