What an enticing prospect: the chance to see two of the worlds most celebrated actors, Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave in close up at this intimate venue. They were electric on screen together in CORIOLANUS and they're currently reunited in a production of RICHARD III directed by one of our most adventurous Shakespeare directors, Rupert Gould.Does it live up to expectations? Well, yes and no. In recent years Gould has made radical choices in his productions, setting MACBETH in a Stalinist dictatorship, THE TEMPEST in the Arctic and THE MERCHANT OF VENICE in Las Vegas. If you were expecting similarly bracing audacity then you’ll be disappointed, this production takes a more conventional approach. The actors are dressed in dark timeless costumes on a bare set, topped with a crown, with a bit of armour added to the outfits for the battle scenes.
The big statement isn't the setting but the tableaux which bookend the production. We open and close at a recreation of the recent excavations in Leicester, when archaeologists unearthed the monarch's corpse. His twisted spine is revealed and Fiennes assumes that physicality to play the infamous hunchback king.
The psychopathic Richard then charms, bullies, murders (and in this production rapes) his way to medieval England's crown destroying everyone with a prior claim. He's dogged by three women whose lives he has destroyed including the former Queen Margaret, now half crazed following the murder of her entire brood of sons. She's often played as a ranting harpy; Redgrave opts for a more haunted matriarch, pathetically clutching a plastic doll and muttering curses and lamentations.
Fiennes himself deserves much credit for making the meaning of everything he says crystal clear but it's not the most natural of deliveries. Richard the III is an engaging comedian with his sarcastic asides and monologues drawing the audience into his engagingly twisted psyche. This production is full of dark humour and earned plenty of laughs on the press night but the combination of his Richard's reptilian charm and Fiennes sometimes drawling nasal voice kept reminding me of the late comic actor, Leonard Rossiter. There's no particular new insight in his performance beyond that superfluous rape scene, as if Rupert Gould thought we needed reminding that Richard was a callous violator.
This is definitely a premier league production but not the revelation the brilliant cast and director looked set to create.
If you can't get into the Almeida the production can be seen in cinemas on http://live.almeida.co.uk/
Packed with fun, spectacle and great songs, many of which we all know and love, Disney's stage adaptation of their animated big screen mega-hit is a joy.