Richard II

Almeida Theatre

I need to be a bit careful here to separate my impressions of the actual show from the (entirely serendipitous, I am not that good at planning) Q&A session with some of the cast and the Assistant Director afterwards, in terms of what I took away from what they did.*

The most important thing to note is that this production is stripped back – in almost every sense. A neat 100 minute running time (no interval) was just the start – the actors performed in a square box, riveted metal, which didn’t even have a single door (they all stayed on stage the whole time), the only props were some six or so buckets (about which more later), the costumes were simple shirts and trousers in uniformly dark colours, and there was little (but not quite nothing) in the way of sound and lighting effects.

Th’ one half of my commission

Well, the end of 2018 is a bit of a milestone for this blog. I am the end of five years of my ten year Shakespeare New Year Resolution. Half way through. So as well as rounding up the last year, I’m doing a little more thinking about the project as a whole – what it has meant to me, and what I might still try and do with it.  Not all of that thinking will necessarily make it into this blog – but rest assured it is happening!