A version of the ‘…all hail!’ to me? So Judas did to Christ..’ (Revisiting Richard II, RST and Barbican, October 27th to Wednesday 8th January 2014) post can be found on
http://bloggingshakespeare.com/reviewing-shakespeare/author/julieraby/
'…all hail!' to me? So Judas did to Christ..' (Revisiting Richard II, RST and Barbican, October 27th to Wednesday 8th January 2014).
The post contains spoilers, so if you haven’t seen this production yet and don’t want to know about some of the production’s surprises, then it is best not to read this post.
Having seen this production again in Stratford after the Previews had taken place and then at the Barbican, I have had more time to think about it and consider some of the detail in the production. The one thing that really stands out for me is how Aumerle, wonderfully captured by Oliver Rix, becomes a constant presence and draws together many of the different themes that this production explores. I wanted to use this blog post to reflect on how the production had developed during the run.
Aumerle is a watcher, a waiverer and an outsider. He is often very emotional and conflicted. He is unsure where his loyalties should lie. He is his Father’s son (Duke of York brilliantly played by Oiliver Ford Davies). In Previews, I found myself drawn to Rix’s portrayal of Aumerle. He is stunningly good looking and contrasts both with the broad brutish group that supports Bolingbroke and also with the more slender Flatterers (Bushy, Bagot and Greene) that follow Richard. Bolingbroke’s followers wear browns and rusts, whereas Richard’s followers wear greys and beiges. In contrast to these two factions, Aumerle wears a rich green cloak that is interwoven with metallic thread. His dress sets him apart from other characters. The director, Greg Doran, has talked about the way that David Tennant brings something of the contemporary to the production, and of course David Tenannt’s Richard is also a character who physically stands out from the other characters. However, Oliver Rix’s Aumerle also has a very contemporary feel. His dark styled hair feels modern, and many of his gestures seem more in keeping with current youth culture than the code of conduct in medieval England.
What is very special about Rix’s performance is the way that he has built up the non-verbal action. His response to Richard’s Flatterers in the first act is one of disgust as they applaud Richard’s witticisms. There’s clearly a rivalry between Aumerle and Bushy (Sam Marks). This is particularly evident in their entrance to John of Gaunt’s house. As Bushy and Aumerle enter, Bushy turns to Aumerle and gives him a look of utter contempt. It’s easy to miss this, because Richard’s and Isabella’s (Emma Hamilton) entrance is rather dramatic and does tend to draw attention to them.
It’s not just Richard’s Flatterers that show disdain for Aumerle. Bolingbroke’s (Nigel Lindsay) burly followers don’t want Aumerle hanging around with them either. After the death of John of Gaunt it is clear that they want Aumerle to leave and he quickly gets the message.
In early scenes, Aumerle comforts his father. He helps him up when York is clearly upset at the death of his brother Gaunt, but this relationship quickly changes. After the scene on the gantry at Flint Castle, York moves to embrace Aumerle, who responds by grabbing his father’s cloak and gives the impression that he wants to throttle him. Both father and son swap sides. York shifts allegiances very quickly, but always reluctantly, from Richard to Bolingbroke, at the same time Aumerle’s allegiances move to Richard.
As the Stratford run was drawing to a close, I had a conversation with Dr Jami Rogers who suggested that there were lots of hints in the production that suggested that Aumerle would become the murderer at the end. She mentioned the Judas kiss on the battlements of Flint Castle as an example. This made me think a little more about Aumerle’s role in this production. I started to watch with fresh eyes. Once the seeds have been planted, then this production becomes a Who-will-do-it, as much as it is a Whodunit. The ‘who killed Gloucester plot’ that runs through the production, is a clever piece of business, and what it does is constantly remind us that Edward’s heirs are not safe. The knowledge that Gloucester has been murdered also plants the possibility of regicide in the audience’s minds.
The key change in the production is that the character of Exton has been cut and Aumerle becomes Richard’s murderer. David Tennant said in the question and answer session after the performance on 8th January that this change made more sense of Aumerle’s character, and I agree totally with this observation.
In this production, the ending becomes a very satisfying ending and this is why.
Aumerle is troubled when Richard banishes Bolingbroke and he embraces Bolingbroke before his banishment. Indeed, he supports Bolingbroke on his way to his banishment. The sweet that Richard puts into Aumerle’s mouth silences him, as does the kiss on the gantry at Flint Castle. There are other places where Aumerle could speak and is silenced. At the very start of the performance, I am very unsure if Aumerle will also step forward and challenge Mowbray (Antony Byrne), but Richard’s entrance stops him doing so, and of course protocol does as well. During the ‘death of kings’ scene, I have seen Aumerle signal to Carlisle not to speak, and stays silent himself at certain points. Whilst Aumerle’s mother pleads for his life, he shows his annoyance at his father’s interventions through his gestures and facial expressions. Indeed, it is in his non-speaking moments that Aumerle is actually a very strong presence on stage. His expressions and gestures clearly convey his conflicted position and relationships with other characters.
In some performances, at Flint Castle, Bolingbroke looks directly at Aumerle as if questioning him and his loyalty. Just prior to this, Aumerle has just demonstrated his allegiance to Richard on the gantry, and the kiss and embrace between them can be read as a personal human moment. The kiss can also be interpreted as the Judas kiss that Jami talked about. Indeed, in the deposition scene Richard directs the word Judas from the following lines directly at Aumerle.
In thy heart-blood, though being all too base. To stain the temper of my knightly …. Did they not sometime cry, ‘All hail!’ to me? So Judas did to Christ: but he, in twelve, Found truth in all but one; I, in twelve thou- sand, none. God save the king ! (4.1.165).
The use of mirrors is very important in Richard II. Greg Doran’s production cleverly sets up pieces of stage business that are mirrored later on in the performance. An obvious example of this is when Bagot (Jake Mann) brings Richard (David Tennant) the mirror it is to emphasise Richard’s vanity and his role as a Flatterer. Later in the deposition scene, it is Bagot who brings the mirror to Richard this time emphasising Richard’s fragility and demonstrating the transience of the support that Bagot had given Richard when he was King. Richard clearly recognises Bagot, and through the repetition of the earlier mirror moment, the betrayal is amplified. However, in both the mirror scenes, Aumerle is also an observer.
The image of the coffin on stage at the start of the performance is a wonderful precursor to the coffin dragged on stage by Aumerle at the end of the production. The production begins with a pre-show and the coffin of the Duke of Gloucester on stage. The Duchess of Gloucester (Jane Lapotaire) kneels weeping at the side of the coffin. One of the final images of the production is Richard’s coffin placed on the stage in the same spot where Gloucester’s coffin was and a kneeling Duke of York beside the coffin is reminiscent of the earlier pose taken at the start by the Duchess of Gloucester. This final image is overlaid by a strange image of the ghost of Richard, Christ-like in a white gown standing on the gantry. This image is a reminder of the white that Richard wore for his entrance at the start of the play. In the early scenes, Bolingbroke is banished and the production concludes with the banishment of Richard’s other cousin, Aumerle.
Vicster51corner has written a very interesting blog about the understudy performance in Stratford Upon Avon, where Oliver Rix performed the part of Richard II. It makes sense for Rix to understudy Richard. Bolingbroke offers an opposition to Richard, and Rix’s Aumerle offers a distorted reflected image of both. As I said in my Preview post, this is the story of three cousins, and the production as a whole works because of the strong sensible cast where Rix’s performance is central.
Further Details
http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/richard-ii/
References
Storify page containing links to reviews interviews etc.
https://drjamirogers.wordpress.com/author/shakespearegoddess/
Top Lists of 2013
Top Shakespeare
1. All’s Well That Ends Well, (RSC RST and Theatre Royal Newcastle).
2. As You Like It (RSC, RST and Theatre Royal Newcastle).
3. Titus Andronicus (RSC, Swan Theatre).
4. Julius Caesar (Donmar Warehouse).
5. The Taming of the Shrew (Propeller, Newcastle Theatre Royal)
6. Macbeth (Trafalgar Studios).
7. Richard II (RSC, RST and Barbican).
8. Othello (National Theatre).
9. Hamlet (RSC, RST and Theatre Royal Newcastle).
10. Twelfth Night (Propeller, Newcastle Theatre Royal).
11. Coriolanus (Donmar Warehouse).
12. As You Like it (Globe).
13, Macbeth (Globe).
14. Henry V (Noel Coward Theatre).
15. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Globe).
16. The Merry Wives of Windsor (RST).
17. The Winter’s Tale, (RST and York Grand Opera House).
18. Richard III (York Theatre Royal).
19. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Noel Coward Theatre).
20. The Tempest (Globe).
Top Theatre (Not Shakespeare)
1. The Effect – Lucy Prebble (National Theatre).
2. This House – James Graham (National Theatre).
3. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon and Simon Stephens (National Theatre at the Apollo).
4. Edward II – Christopher Marlowe (National Theatre).
5. Talk Show – Alistair McDowall (Royal Court).
6. A Boy and His Soul – Colman Domingo (Tricycle).
7. A Mad World My Masters – Thomas Middleton (Swan).
8. Jumpers for Goalposts – Tom Wells (Bush Theatre).
9. Blink – Phil Porter (Soho Theatre).
10. Chalk Farm – Kieran Hurley and A.J. Taudevin (Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe Festival).
11. There Has Possibly Been an Incident – Chris Thorpe (Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, Edinburgh Fringe Festival).
12. Same Deep Water as Me – Nick Payne (Donmar).
13. Feast -Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Rotimi Babatunde, Marcos Barbosa, Tanya Barfield, Gbolahan Obisesan (Young Vic/Royal Court).
14. The Victorian in the Wall – Will Aamsdale (Royal Court).
15. Let the Right One In – John Ajvide Lindqvist and Jack Thorne (Royal Court)
16. The Weir – Conor McPherson (Donmar)
17. Wot? No Fish! – Danny Braverman (Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe Festival)
18. Home – David Storey (Arcola).
19. Candide – Mark Ravenhill (Swan).
20. Choose Your One Documentary – Nathan Pennington (Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe Festival).
Exhibitions
1. David Bowie (Victoria and Albert)
2. Pre-Raphaelites (Tate Britain)
3. Life and Death in Pompeii (British Museum)
4. Lowry (Tate Britain)
5. Elizabeth I and Her People (National Portrait Gallery)
6. Paul Klee (Tate Modern)
7. Manet. Portraying Life. Royal Academy
8. Summer Show (Royal Academy)
9. Peer Doig (National Gallery of Scotland)
10. Glam The Performance of Style (Tate, Liverpool)
Richard II (RST, Preview performances 10th, 11th, 12th October 2013)
The Summer RST Company have left, and the barriers have appeared around the stage door. Tweeters twitter about how wonderful David Tennant’s performance is. It’s an ‘enthralling performance’, ‘just extraordinary’ and ‘mesmerising’ they say.
Richard II enters the stage and is at the centre of his court with his flatters whispering in his ear.
The casting of David Tennant was an important move in setting out Doran’s future strategy for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Tenannt’s presence on stage, and as part of the Company, signals a change in direction form Michael Boyd’s ideas around ensemble. On stage, he is supported by a very strong company, and it is interesting that David Tennant’s presence on the RST stage adds something to the reading of his character.
I saw the first three previews of the current production of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Richard II. I realise that previews are a work in progress, and that the production may have changed during the other three performances leading up to Press Night. Previews give the creative team time to try things out before the Press Night and drop anything that just isn’t working. It was clear that there was some work to be done, but I felt that there are real positives about this production, and I was really confident that what I was seeing in previews would be the basis for an excellent production.
The first thing that struck me when I walked into the auditorium for the first preview was both the stunning set and the that the stage had been lowered. The set looks like a hologram and is set in a cathedral that seems to go back into the depths of the theatre. It is a very innovative use of the old proscenium arch space to create the image of gothic columns. I was delighted to see that the stage used for the summer season has been replaced by a much lower stage which is much better than the chin high stage which caused some sight lines to be problematic. Indeed, the height is much more like the height in the Courtyard Theatre, and I hope the RSC keep the stage at this height. I felt the set had been designed both for the RST and the Barbican, and I think it will work so well on a proscenium arch stage as well as on the RST stage. What I really liked about the set was the way the light reflected on the set and changed colours, so the garden became golden. There was a little of Greg Doran’s Hamlet set here in that the audience were mirrored in it at points which was very effective. There was an innovative use of a platform across the stage that appeared and descended at different points. As the musicians were at the sides of the dress and upper circle, both the horizontal and vertical space of the theatre was being utilised.
The pre-show is a little clumsy. On all three nights the audience was unsure how to respond. Had the play started? Could they continue to settle into their seats. Over the three nights the pre-show had been cut from about 10 minutes to five minutes.
I felt David Tennant did a great job at getting at Richard in previews and it is a performance I could see really developing during the run. When I first saw it, I wasn’t sure if the awkwardness at the start was Tennant’s nerves or because he was trying to reveal an unease in the character. In the first preview, Tennant’s clothes were dishevelled, his cross askew, and his hair (with extensions) a mess. Tennant is very good at using his physique to play an awkwardness and there was something of that here. At times, he overstressed the RP accent which gave the sense of a person uncomfortable with the role he was inhabiting. At one point on the metal platform, with Aumerle (Oliver Rix), Tennant looked as if his shirt had got caught, but that was because he had a wire on for health and safety reasons, and this felt odd as Tennant was playing a vain king that looked at himself in he mirror often.
Tennant played the transformation from king to broken man very well and I really loved the metamorphosis into a Christ-like figure at the end of the play. What wasn’t working when I saw the production was that there felt like there was anxiety in Tennant’s performance as if it didn’t quiet connect with the audience. It was as if he lacked the confidence he demonstrated so well when he played Hamlet. Maybe this was because of the physical closeness of the performance to the audience and that made him very conscious of the audience around him. The full house standing ovations are yet to come. I am sure they will. On the first preview some people stood, and the audience clearly enjoyed the production.
The audience gasped when the identity of the murderer is revealed and this is a lovely touch.
I felt that the end was marred slightly by the sack in the coffin, which I am sure they borrowed from the Titus set and will have to give back. I hope this changes and that there is a real sense of the earthly body and so this can be contrasted to the spiritual in a way that I think the production is trying to get at. Another thing that didn’t work for me was the ghost of Richard clanking across the metal bridge and supposedly having to open a gate, when ghosts walk through gates. The effect might have been better if Richard had been revealed rather than having to walk onto the platform in full view.
In previews there were some stunning performances. I was particularly impressed with Oliver Ford Davies as the Duke of York and Oliver Rix as Aumerle. Rix really fleshed out the character and gave the production a sense that this was the story of three cousins not just Richard and Bollingbroke. I felt the scenes between Aumerle and Richard were really strong. The stand out performance of the previews for me was Nigel Lindsay. He played a bully, Bolingbroke, who only seemed repentant in the last moments of the play.
It was great to have seen the wonderful John Heffernan as Edward II recently. Both Richard II and Edward II explore leadership and what happens when personal emotion takes over, and I felt that the RSC production achieved this well.
For me, preview viewing is very much part of the excitement of live theatre. In a first preview you just have no idea what approach will be taken. It was exciting to share the experience with other passionate theatre goers. The excitement is also about being able to go back again on future dates to see how the production has developed. I intend to do that soon.
Reviews and Previews
Titus Andronicus (The Swan 16th May to 25th October)
The trailer for this production promises lots of blood, and you go you won’t be disappointed if that’s what you expect. Of course, if that’s your thing, one of the highlights has to be sitting in the front row and getting splattered in blood. However, it is stage blood so it washes out very easily, and it’s part of the fun of live theatre.
One of the great things about blog reviews is that you can see a production develop and grow before reviewing it. I first saw the production on its first preview, and I knew that this production was going to be good, but there was little stage blood (because they had run out) and it hadn’t found the pace that it’s now got in the middle of the run. Now this is not to be missed production with an ensemble that are working extremely well together in the Swan theatre across three shows ( also A Mad World My Masters and Candide).
When the audience enters the stage they are faced with three bodies on stretchers being tended to by nurses. There is a strange speech coming from the radio. One of the nurses (Badria Timimi), moves forwards and lights up a cigarette and the play has begun. This is a strange world,which is not in the past or present or future, but in a mixture of all three.
It is not just the blood that is a highlight in this production Katy Stephens is absolutely mesmerizing as Tamora. Jonny Weldon and Perry Millward are outstanding as Chiron and Demetrius. Kevin Harvey plays Aaron with a lovely musical voice and with such skill. The way Aaron says ‘Just a line in Horace’ gives it such power. His love for the baby is very moving. We see Tamora, Aaron, Chiron and Demetrius supporting each other from the start as they are in chains and are captives of the Roman Army. This gives a clear rationale why these four stick together, and support each other. I particularly liked the two Goth brothers cycling round the stage before the rape of Lavinia (Rose Reynolds), and the way that Aaron reasons with them that rape is the best course of action leading to the horrific scene. These are four performances that you just can’t take your eyes off.
What is exceptional about Katy Stephens’ performance is that at the start she is playing the captive emotional mother and the piercing howl she gives when her eldest son is butchered, but throughout the performance she becomes bolder as the Empress and transforms. She also get to wear the most amazing outfits and shoes. Tamora is particularly chilling when she sets up the murder of Bassianus, and is unmoved by Lavinia’s pleading, delighting in the fact that her sons are about to rape and mutilate her. There’s a lovely moment in the final scene where Lavinia stares at Tamora across the dining table, and Tamora, at first puzzled, realises that Lavinia has revealed all. Why does Tamora take another spoonful of the pie when she knows the truth? For me, this moment revealed her shock and horror at finding out the truth, but she hesitates to believe it at first.
Stephen Boxer gives a very solid performance as Titus. Like King John, he makes crucial errors in moving from war to peace. His decision to murder Alarbus (Nicholas Prasad) in front of his family is disastrous, as is his rash slaughter of his son Mutius (Harry Mcentire), for disobeying him. It is possible to believe that he oscillates through madness and grief and it becomes hard to believe that he will be taken in by Tamora’s playacting as Revenge, giving an energy and tension to the penultimate scene.
Rose Reynolds performance as Lavinia is extremely good. She plays as determined and it is right she fights back when Titus smothers her in the final scene. As other bloggers have commentated it is not always clear why Marcus (Richard Durden) does not move to hug Lavinia when he finds her mutilated in the woods.
There’s a great performance from John Hopkins as Saturninus. He brings such a wry humour to the role. For example when he is to be crowned he turns to the audiences and gives a satisfied smile. At one point he is sat in a bath wearing his crown, which is a very humorous, and this is added to by the fact that he is also naked.
The scenes with Lucius and the Goths are lovely contrasts to the Roman scenes. The drums bring in a thundering beat at a moment in the play, when the it feels that things can’t get any worse. Titus has been tricked into chopping off his hand, Lucius and has been banished and Lavinia has been horrifically mutilated. Sarah Ridgeway plays a very convincing Goth queen showing her versatility across several roles this season. It was a great decision to go into the interval at the moment when Lucius is branded by the Goths and there is a screech in the air.
The finale is great fun. the fact that most of the characters are dead on stage leads to some very serious lines becoming very funny. We are left with two startling images. The first is the unrepentant Aaron left to die buried in a pit with just his head exposed, and the second is Young Lucius walking across the stage with Aaron’s baby. Young Lucius spies the pie slice and picks it up as Aaron horrifies looks on. The lights go down and we are left to wonder if the child will slaughter the baby, and the brutality will continue to the next generation.
This is Michael Fentiman’s debut at the Royal Shakespeare Company as a director, but his experience as an assistant director on shows such as Rupert Goold’s Romeo and Juliet has clearly paid off. Some of the devices used in this production have been influenced by his pervious work such as the use of the raised platform.
There’s even a magic trick in the production. What happens to the bodies that are on stage when you enter the auditorium? How do they disappear whilst you watch.
This summer is an outstanding Royal Shakespeare Company season in both theatres , which is reassuring after the disappointing lack-lustre shipwreck season last year. There is more to come including Richard II and hopefully an announcement of a Summer 2014 season coming soon.
Trailer
Reviews and Previews
My Titus Andronicus Storify page
Blogs
between the acts 