Theatre review: Richard III(Sam Wanamaker Playhouse)

There's a lot of good actors about but not all of them have a Dick in them; Sophie Russell makes her own case as she continues in her role from Henry VI to play the deranged lead in Richard III. After the first play in this pairing I wondered if Ilinca Radulian and Sean Holmes would take a completely different tack with the Henriad's conclusion or follow right on from where they left off; the graffitied, muddy stage we open with immediately shows it's the latter, although as the play goes on it develops some new flourishes of its own. Playing Richard III as an immediate continuation of the Wars of the Roses has an effect on how Richard is played: The York family were happy to indulge Richard's psychotic side to do their dirty work, resulting in Edward IV (Sarah Amankwah) in power; their mistake was assuming that would be enough for him. Instead Richard wants the spoils for himself - so what if the only people left in his way are his own family?

This means that instead of frothing cartoon villain, this kind of Richard III is one that looks at the banality of evil. People like Edward, George (John Lightbody) and the young princes are obstacles in the way to the crown. Others like Lady Anne (Matti Houghton) are potential tools to get him there, and the fact that she hates his guts because he murdered half her family isn't reason enough not to try and seduce her.

Just as in Henry VI, Russell notably doesn't embody any of the physical deformities associated with the character, implying that what everyone sees is a reflection of the murderous personality they all know is within. The closest thing to any acknowledgement is that whenever Richard himself mentions his twisted shape she looks down at her chest, suggesting the fact that he's being played by a woman is relevant. Indeed, where the gender-blind casting of the Globe Ensemble generally plays the characters unambiguously as the gender Shakespeare wrote regardless of who's playing them, there's a bit more ambiguity to Richard's gender and sexuality (he recruits Jonathan Broadbent's Buckingham as his spin doctor by literally seducing him) and perhaps this is what those around him are inclined to be prejudiced against.

As with last night's play the opening scenes are played comparatively straight, but once we get to the black comedy of the two murderers (Steffan Donnelly and Philip Arditti, designer Grace Smart's gag from the last play continuing as their shirts identify them as Murderer 01 and Murderer 02) sent after Clarence things take a more surreal turn: Richard may no longer need to do the killing himself, but he turns up at every murder he ordered to do a musical number. It's a touch that injects some of the insanity back into a character who for the most part takes a very pragmatic approach to his bloody rampage.

Richard III doesn't feel quite as satisfyingly coherent as Henry VI did but there's still a lot of touches I liked - such as Russell's Richard tiptoeing around the stage to avoid a confrontation with his mother (Amankwah,) or the police tape and evidence bags that highlight the clinical nature of all the bloodshed. Plus the concluding image of Donnelly's Richmond planting a tree in fresh soil harks back to all the soil and mud that's been the scene for fighting and death throughout both plays, and gives an image of it being reappropriated for a more hopeful future. Not the most memorable Richard III ever but an eccentric one that rounds off the History Cycle effectively.

Richard III by William Shakespeare is booking in repertory until the 26th of January at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Running time: 2 hours 45 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner.