Richard III at the Globe

An evening at the Globe in the company of a non-male cast, this was the theatre using its pantomime tendencies almost exclusively for good.  

Michelle Terry gives us full force toxic masculinity with a blonde wig, a fake six pack and braggadocio posturing that leaves us in no doubt of Richard’s character.  With references to 'making England great again', and self-aggrandising speeches, sometimes with a hint of an American accent, there there were plenty of references to Trump.  And if we were any doubt, the red baseball caps worn by Richard's supporters in the second half ought to clear that up.  

The thing about Richard of course is that he is so deliciously bad it can't help being fun, and so there are lots and lots of laughs to be had.  For the first half the crowd is hyped up to cheer and go along with Richard’s tyranny but the switch to understanding what are the consequences of not standing firm are really deftly handled in the second half, with the crowd becoming quieter from the death of the princes onwards.  The ever increasing body count was emphasised by the blood-stained trap door in the middle of the stage that disposed of the many corpses, helped along by Richard’s executioners.  I found the scene with Elizabeth and Richard, when he is scheming to marry her daughter, really powerful, and the speech by Richmond at the end, musing on the ways in which tyranny seeks to divide, was eloquent but there was silence from the audience after the final amen, which was a strange but maybe fitting way to round things off before the final jig.

Fab music and dancing throughout, and the costume and set were a punky mix of traditional and  modern, getting more up to date as the story rolled on.  There were some obvious cuts and changes to the language but I think that worked in its favour. My only real issue was with the lack of clarity sometimes in the diction, particularly from Terry as Richard, not helped by the speed this rattled along at, so it sometimes became a stream of slightly shouty sounds.  

Overall though, this was a really fun evening with great performances despite the underlying sober message about what happens when weak men are enabled and go bad.