We saw it on the 29th August 2014, at the Trafalgar Studios. We had no understudies for the performance.
Last year, my 20th birthday present was two tickets to see Richard III. Why did I want to see Richard III? Well, for my A Level history personal study in 2012/3 I chose, you've guessed it, Richard III. After doing so much research and really getting into the topic, I ended up really liking him and his story. I think he is a really interesting character and it's funny that I ended up at the University of York as we now wear the white rose in our own war of the roses sport event against Lancaster each year. I became a member of the Richard III society as I was in contact with lots of the main staff whilst doing my project and have never left it!
I then saw in the newspaper that Richard III was going to be in London whilst we were there and my Mum said that I could have two tickets for my birthday. Only after we had already agreed all of this did I find out that Martin Freeman, my favourite actor, was going to be playing Richard! I'm a big Sherlock fan as all of my family and friends know, but have liked him for a long time in other things as well. My Mum also liked him so was going to be the person that came with me. However, my sister started to really get into the Hobbit, found out who he was, and begged to go instead, which what happened!
The night got slightly more exciting when we found out Benedict Cumberbatch, Louise Brealey, Andrew Scott and Amanda Abbington (all from Sherlock) were all in the audience just in front of us. We met Amanda afterwards, and my sister also met Gok Wan whilst I was getting her an ice cream!
Onto the show, Richard III was written by William Shakespeare in around 1592, and it is classed as a tragedy. It is based on the real King Richard III and the supposed events leading up to his reign, during his reign and after. It is important to remember that Shakespeare was writing when Elizabeth I was on the throne, so a descendant of the House of Lancaster, who fought for the crown from Richard who was the last King from the House of York so obviously it will be biased against his character, but it is also a piece of entertainment so he obviously did make things up and/or exaggerate things e.g. the extent of the hump. If anybody wants anymore of the history or controversy, let me know and I can answer any questions using my A Level project! Through the play, we see Richard's attempt to rise to power, featuring events such as the death of his eldest brother Edward, his plot to kill his other brother George, his relationship with his nephews who would have been heirs to the throne and also the death of his wife. All historically controversial and debated events. Other central themes are his relationship with Warwick and both of his daughters, as well as his own nieces. The underlying issue for most of the play is the threat from the House of Lancaster, which accumulates in the final battle at the end where the famous lines 'A Kingdom for a horse' are uttered. Finishing with his death and the rise of Henry VII.
This version was set in the 1970s, the winter of discontent to be exact, during a type of political coup, with Edward as a sort of dictator type figure. His brothers and friends were his 'cabinet' members. The whole thing takes place in the main office of the new government basically. This was a bit confusing for some people, and in some ways it worked well, at other points it was a bit silly and strange. George drowning in a fish tank was quite strange, and people did complain about the fish being in danger which I believe were eventually removed.
I thought that the cast did a really go job, Shakespeare can be boring and they were performing to quite a young audience, although it wasn't full of annoying Sherlock and Hobbit fans as some newspapers had reported. There were very few disturbances either as the papers had been going on about. In fact the only one I can recall is two foreign girls were texting on their phone in front of us that the Sherlock cast were in. Benedict Cumberbatch himself made the most noise at the end and started off the standing ovation. I didn't really like Queen Margaret who came on and off to deliver what I think are curses or some type of warning as it was all a bit creepy and over the top and she sat at the side for a long time at one point for no reason really and lay down on the floor at another point, which was a bit strange. All of the brothers and wives were brilliantly acted though and you could see the type of people Shakespeare was trying to portray.
I quite liked the set, although it was a bit annoying having some members of the audience behind the actors as it ruined the setting a bit and obviously they fidgeted around a lot as they couldn't see lots of the action properly. There was a smaller piece of set right next to where we were sitting where Richard goes through some plans, so this was quite exciting as Freeman basically came out into the audience. The house lights were also put on at one point to make it feel as though you were in the scene with them. The set was basically the office, so lots of big tables and varying sizes of chair's to show who the important people were. Soliloquies were performed through a wired microphone directly to the audience which was very effective I think.
Once the action really got going in the second act, it really did come to life. There was some blood, but again, not as much as the papers had been saying, which personally, my sister and I were a bit disappointed about as we were quite close to the front! Freeman did an excellent job of showing Richard's desperation and showed Richard's more vulnerable side, rather than making him come across as a monster all the way to his death. Freeman was particularly good with the comical moments and some of his facial expressions really have stuck in my sister's and my memories as they are probably what we laughed at the most. The costumes were mostly military, which fitted the setting well and Richard's hump was not over the top as it can be sometimes. There were some very loud bangs (I think they were the guns going off I can't quite remember) which had people jumping out of their seats, including my sisters and the girls just in front who got quite embarrassed as I didn't even flinch (which I've been told I rarely do at things that are supposed to for some reason).
Overall, I am really glad that we went. I got to see one of my favourite historical characters, played by my favorite actor. Once you got used to seeing Richard and co. as being people in the 1970s and not in 1485 as they should have been, you could really get into the story. It possibly needed a bit more explanation of the setting, which was in the programme but if you didn't have one or read it beforehand, you could easily have been confused. However, I do think that the cast did a really good job and they did deserve that standing ovation. Well done Jamie Lloyd and Trafalgar Transformed.
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