Richard III (Headlong Tour 2019)

I think it's discrimination personally. Why don't they cast someone with a real hunchback to play the hunchback. Where are Cynthia Erivo's outraged tweets about that? Huh?

I hate Spectrix. It never works for me on Safari, and I ALWAYS seem to have to reset my password, even if I have carefully noted which password goes with which theatre.

Saw this in Bristol last night and really enjoyed it - Tom Mothersdale excellent as Richard, first taking the audience into his confidence, then in turns making us laugh, revolting us and (slightly) earning our sympathy. He is very much haunted by the ghosts of those he has killed (primarily Henry VI).

Nicely staged, with a set dominated by mirrors, and very brisk at around 2.40 including interval. Perhaps not putting a revelatory new spin on the play, but very much recommended nonetheless.

Just saw this in Bristol

Hands down the best production of Richard III ive seen so far. Not revolutionary but a creative and pacy production of what is, to me, a clunky play.

Jonathan Slinger remains my favourite Richard but Tom Mothersdale is not far behind. He relishes every word he speaks, gives a very physical performance staying bent forward and twisted most of the time, and his face is animated with every villainous thought. He keeps the audience enthralled. Truly surpassed my expectations

In fact most of the cast gave top notch performances. The wooing scenes were spicy, helped by the reactions from the enthralled secondary students. There’s no Margaret but Eileen Nicholas makes up with her steely curses as the Duchess of York. Stefan Adegbola is a silent presence at first as Buckingham with a calm sly voice

It’s a small cast so there are doubling. Only once did I get confused by the guy playing Edward IV and Stanley near the start. Still it was nice to see emphasis on Stanley trying not to get in Richards bad list.

Headlong is never short of bringing flourishes to this play. They give some of the death scenes their own little twists. There’s a moment in the Hastings scene that was unexpected and shocking. There’s plenty of ghostly presence with the inclusion of Henry VI. They even took advantage of the doubling where Richard mistakes someone for one of his victims

Great production. Thoroughly recommend it

PS I notice there’s a duplicate thread that needs merging

It’s running at the Ally Pally from next week,

Loved this at Home this evening.
Raw, dirty, fierce.
Have not read or seen Richard III before. I think the really merit in a Shakespeare production is the ability to go in blind and follow it completely and tonight I did with this.
The Composition/Sound Design really adding to the atmosphere. Very well staged and directed, with the climax of the second act an absolute highlight. Considering another visit this later this week.

What did you think @elanor?

I went back Saturday night. It took about 15mins to find it's flow, I guess its pretty heavy managing it on a two-show day. The audience felt a bit more reserved than Wednesday evening also, less responsive, but once it got going they seemed to relax into it.
The Bosworth scenes really make this production for me, really well paced and so much power.

I thought it was really good. The story was very clear, and I didn't get the confusion between characters that I often get in the Wars of the Roses plays. I think they must have cut it very heavily for it to be so clear. I loved the staging, thought it was excellent.

I didn't realise until I was on my way home that the woman playing Hastings (with the solid, unmoving hair) was the same woman playing Ratcliffe, with the shaved head. Odd, as she is extremely striking looking, but I didn't recognise her in the Hastings outfit.