Jillian Keily’s extraordinary production, which premiered in 2023, is far more interested in spectacle than poetry and medieval history. So, audiences, who want to see the play Shakespeare wrote about King Richard II should stay away from Brad Fraser’s revolutionary adaptation which messes with the text.
A big surprise is that one of the most renowned speeches in the Shakespearian canon, John of Gaunt’s death-bed speech, “This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle”, has been cut.
Another major alteration is to turn Aumerle not only into Richard’s lover but also his murderer. (Incidentally, that’s nothing new. Gregory Doran did the same thing when he directed David Tennant as Richard II for the RSC in 2013.)
Keily’s pageant opens with a big upbeat Disco-era dance number. The cast, dressed as feathered angels and stripped to their underwear, is led by Stephen Jackman Tordoff, who seems to be in a different play to everybody else; and looks more like a comic gay pop star than King Richard.
Stephen Jackman Tordoff has a moustache, necklace, pearls, bare midriff, fur cape, a corset, dark glasses, fluffy white trousers and a strange mini-antler codpiece. The charismatic and hysterical performance could hardly be more camp.
Nobody will be surprised to learn that the poet-king, who really did believe he was king by Divine Right, was queer; but they will be surprised to see him in a bath-tub having oral sex with his lover. The bath-tub scene will be the scene everybody is talking about.
Richard II can be watched online on the Stratfest@Home channel. You can find out more by following this link.
To learn more about Robert Tanitch and his reviews, click here to go to his website. 
