The Stage

Richard III

Published Monday 29 January 2007 at 15:20 by Peta David

Foul tempered, scheming and driven by his own self importance, Jonathan Slinger’s Richard is a small masterpiece. He derives great satisfaction from seeing his kindred murdered or emotionally destroyed in his singular pursuit to be crowned the king of all England. He trifles with peoples emotions, casts them aside and laughs in the face of their suffering. His bodily deformities are not overly emphasized, he is not weighed down by them and yet we are constantly reminded of his physical weaknesses. Strangely he does appear to skip everywhere.

In a dimly lit and bleak set the action unfolds with relentless pace. The Duke of Buckingham played with zeal by Richard Cordery is Richard’s evil henchman. Ann Ogbomo is excellent as the elegant Elizabeth as are the other women in the cast including Katy Stephens as Margaret and Maureen Beattie as the Duchess of York and Hannah Barrie as Lady Anne. All of them have characters that are well defined and profound in their intentions and of course they have all been affected by the malicious wickedness of Richard.

They are all damaged, desperate souls searching for a way out of the turmoil in which they find themselves. The whole production is very dark and sinister, with the entire cast dressed in black with few exceptions. It has a presentiment of ill doing from start to finish and even when Richard is finally killed and Richmond claims the crown there is not a flicker of joy or jubilation at the final curtain.