Antonio Cimolino’s production, acted on the traverse stage of the newly transformed Tom Patterson Theatre in 2022, has a good pace and Shakespeare’s text is boldly and clearly spoken. The performance begins with Richard III stepping out of his grave in a Leicester car park (where his bones were only discovered earlier this century).
Colm Feore, long-time Stratford veteran, is a bit on the old side to be playing Richard, who died in 1585 in the Battle of Bosworth Field when he was 32, thirty years younger than Feore.
Feore has no hunchback. He has twisted legs and the way he limps, jerkily yet nimbly, at speed about the stage, becomes more and more distracting. The leggy physicality gets in the way of his performance. His most effective moment comes on the eve of battle when he wakes from a terrible nightmare and very briefly reveals a puny frightened figure with a conscience.
André Sills plays the Duke of Buckingham without whose help Richard would never have become king. Sills has such a powerful and dangerous presence that he dominates the stage and sidelines Feore.
Casting a woman as Tyrell, the murderer of the two child princes in the Tower of London, is odd and jars. The role of Richmond has been much cut to the play’s disadvantage. The very final scene, a modern coda and rewrite, is as unnecessary as it is confusing.
Lucy Peacock plays Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England, as a much stronger character than usual. She is not the shallow woman Richard thinks she is. Jessica B Hill is an unexpectedly tough and fiery Anne, whom Richard woos and wins over her husband’s coffin. Diana LeBlanc is perfect as the Duchess of York’s Richard’s unhappy mother.
Richard III can be watched on Stratfest@home by following this link.
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