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Theatre listings >
Richard III
Playwright - William Shakespeare
Director - MIcheal Emans
Designer - Lyn McAndrews and Michael Emmans
Company - Rapture Theatre
Venue - Cottier Theatre Glasgow
Dates - 23
- 30 Nov not 26 at 7:30 pm Tickets 013552 36651
Run Time - 3hrs 10 mins including 15 minute interval
Reviewer - Thelma Good
Arousing aroma of power.
In Scotland our knowledge of English Mediaeval History is patchy and full
of yarns with holes, the Princes in the Tower and their crooked cruel
uncle amongst them. Shakespeare dramatised these royal personages so that
his version of Richard is the one we remember - the malformed son of King
Edward who cleared his route to throne. It makes a damned good play. Rapture
Theatre's production, fielding a huge cast of 20 actors, has enough tension
to ensure the 3 hour long modern dress production keeps you caught in
its Machiavellian maw.
Mike Tibbetts is the club footed Richard, exuding that arousing
aroma of power and mental strength that draws weaker people and ensures
others try to stay beyond his grasp. As son of a King, Richard during
his incursions towards the throne, becomes brother of a king then protector
of a young king. Tighter and tighter he pulls strings and rigs the ship
of State so it goes into peril. It becomes harder to avoid his reach.
Buckingham is a courtier with an eye on getting his due for his complicity,
part spin doctor part chief organiser, his spineless modern equivalents
are a country's scourge. In cream pointed shoes and effete gestures
Adam P. Tomkins's Buckingham is a man who hides his danger
with a limp wrist. I could gib at this portrayal of him as yet another
gay moral weakling but it does contrast well with Catesby. He is the civil
servant type who will lie and collude and Diane Thornton plays
Catesby with telling and attractive efficiency.
With 2 Queens, 1 Duchess and a Lady, Shakespeare give us scenes where
we see quite strong women try to resist or retain some honesty. As the
fiendish man increases his outrageous moves, they fail too, but differently
from the men. These scenes work when the female actors present themselves
as women of standing, any slight waver away from the career woman undermines
their protrayals. In the short but telling role of George the Duke of
Clarence, Ian Aldred gives us the sense of a better hearted order
the country rapidly loses. Vividly memorable as the dispatcher of the
innocent boys as Tyrell is Rod Morrison while Duncan R Edward's
Lord Richmond equips his warriors with the strength of righteous words.
For an largely unfunded company, director Michael Emans and his cast,
whilst not a small scale RSC and despite a few uneven performances, bring
off a very credible production of this play. Although based on English
history, its depiction of the danger of amoral persons and power is one
which should be seen more often here in Scotland.
© Thelma Good 25 November 2002. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Rapture are also doing at the Cottier this week
Alan Spence's The Sailmaker
25 Nov at 2pm
26 Nov at 7:30pm
26 - 29 Nov at 2pmTickets 013552 36651
Cast
Richard - Micheal Tibbetts.
George Duke of Clarence - Ian Aldred.
Lady Anne - Paola deRosa.
Hastings - Alan Thornton.
Lieutenant Brackenbury, Buckingham -- Adam P Tomkins.
Stanley Lord of Derby - Dan Gray
Queen Elizabeth - Lyn McAndrew
1st Murderer, Lord Rivers, Richmond - Duncan R Edwards.
Queen Margaret - Helen Lamarra.
Duchess od Yorke - Alieen Waite
King Edward - Gordon Cochrane
Catesby, 2nd Murderer, Clarence's Daughter - Diane Thornton
Mistress Shore - Anne Maire Feeney
Scrivener, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, The Mayor - Andrew Willams
Tyrell - Rod Morison
The Keeper, Bishop of Ely - Vincent McGread
Norfolk, The Cameraman - Martin McNaughton
The Children - Karol Janik, Alister Dukes and Lauren Marshall
Rapture Theatre 2003 Spring Season
Revival of their production of Mamet's Speed The Plow Touring including
Dundee Rep 5 - 8 Feb 2003
Double Top by Ron Rose - Scottish Premiere Touring 14 March - 12 April
2003
Boston Marriage by David Mamet - Scottish Premiere Touring May 2003
Autummn 2003
Revival of Edward Albee's Whose Afraid Of Virginia Woolf
and other Scottish premieres
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