Richard II Closes In Stratford-upon-Avon Tonight

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGLIIAOVxPjrIP5uqCjH6nYH8xD495VdcdjO7JhbsebwHtnRbdVXi_rVbaQjJNL_p7qtmfxWDlC_UBokr_b0WpHURIpgfCFdfAHa-OAEgh9uZFpV0u0xPltKsNOWN4xk5ACy_dm5j-o9c/s1600/rich26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGLIIAOVxPjrIP5uqCjH6nYH8xD495VdcdjO7JhbsebwHtnRbdVXi_rVbaQjJNL_p7qtmfxWDlC_UBokr_b0WpHURIpgfCFdfAHa-OAEgh9uZFpV0u0xPltKsNOWN4xk5ACy_dm5j-o9c/s640/rich26.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David Tennant's sold out and critically acclaimed run as Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon comes to end tonight as David and the rest of the ensemble play their last show in Shakespeare's home town.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The play will transfer to The Barbican Centre in London on 9th December 2013 where it will play in residence until 25th January 2014.</span><br /><b><a href="http://www.david-tennant.com/2009/id194.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To find out more about the play please visit our website here.</span></a></b><br /><br /><br />

David Tennant Richard II Royal Shakespeare Theatre Shakespeare Theatre Richard II Closes In Stratford-upon-Avon Tonight

David Tennant's sold out and critically acclaimed run as Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon comes to end...

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David Tennant's Richard II Is A £1m Hit At The Cinema

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUj-w5vl8f65K01ptwvbeZ6HP6VmCqJci7ywsq9aPLAxWgPNAcvVaBJtwf_WhkswJqCrI1cDp-Sn93mHw2WpQ9O6Xqg95xwUYFLNKcmVy2IMtXfGH1H91zgCfXI2P7hPEokBvD-Xku0C0/s1600/rich26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUj-w5vl8f65K01ptwvbeZ6HP6VmCqJci7ywsq9aPLAxWgPNAcvVaBJtwf_WhkswJqCrI1cDp-Sn93mHw2WpQ9O6Xqg95xwUYFLNKcmVy2IMtXfGH1H91zgCfXI2P7hPEokBvD-Xku0C0/s640/rich26.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David Tennant's portrayal of Richard II is already a sold out hit on the stages of Stratford-upon-Avon and London, but last night's live transmission also proved to be hugely successful with the "Live From Stratford-upon-Avon" screenings generating more £1million as it showed across more than 364 screens in the UK.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">60,000 people visited their local cinema last night to view the live action as David took to the stage at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, and a further 20,000 have already booked to view encore screenings.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was also screened live internationally in <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Germany, Austria, Sweden, Ireland, Canada and Malta last night and the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Russia will screen the production over the next two months.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Richard II closes in Stratford-upon-Avon on Saturday 16th November, it will then transfer to the Barbican Centre in London from 9th December.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>

David Tennant Live From Stratford-upon-Avon Richard II Royal Shakespeare Theatre Theatre David Tennant's Richard II Is A £1m Hit At The Cinema

David Tennant's portrayal of Richard II is already a sold out hit on the stages of Stratford-upon-Avon and London, but last night's ...

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VIDEO: RSC Production Diary 12 - John Wyver On Bringing Richard II To The Big Screen

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTgpDRGCKezoUQpZ1d2zmqNg_OMgYiwLAthdVhb1bDmzkxP7oLwPhKsAtfoXJz4flQec1vdvSJtQn2qbpBn0d8bArETCaKZLc0pK3lIsWb635JWwrH8rJY3-tQIwHhdo6Gond-bzi14Lc/s1600/rich14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTgpDRGCKezoUQpZ1d2zmqNg_OMgYiwLAthdVhb1bDmzkxP7oLwPhKsAtfoXJz4flQec1vdvSJtQn2qbpBn0d8bArETCaKZLc0pK3lIsWb635JWwrH8rJY3-tQIwHhdo6Gond-bzi14Lc/s640/rich14.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span> <br /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">Producer of the Live broadcast of Richard II with David Tennant, John Wyver, talks about tonight's broadcast and the technical preparations involved in bringing the production to cinemas across the world.</span></span><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span> <span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">For more information about RSC Live broadcasts go to http://onscreen.rsc.org.uk</span></span><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span> <br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gWgkRL40rcE?rel=0" width="640"></iframe>

David Tennant Richard II Royal Shakespeare Theatre Theatre VIDEO VIDEO: RSC Production Diary 12 - John Wyver On Bringing Richard II To The Big Screen

Producer of the Live broadcast of Richard II with David Tennant, John Wyver, talks about tonight's broadcast and the technical preparat...

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David Tennant Stars In Richard II Live From Stratford-upon-Avon Tonight

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6VDj-tlrTaD9JjV-o8KplVFYv09F0gmThDdRGDPchei6-ifD4-eIJKCvTetfkp29-KMAZos0U2PVKaYFKsJgfreRCtxGaT1Hxl3_RrrKA_Vh1ovF6jgoxOE1oB9gxkGrf6bxrAuadRM/s1600/rich29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6VDj-tlrTaD9JjV-o8KplVFYv09F0gmThDdRGDPchei6-ifD4-eIJKCvTetfkp29-KMAZos0U2PVKaYFKsJgfreRCtxGaT1Hxl3_RrrKA_Vh1ovF6jgoxOE1oB9gxkGrf6bxrAuadRM/s640/rich29.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David Tennant's Richard II will be broadcast live in to cinemas from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon tonight.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The live broadcast of Richard II will be the first by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Richard II, directed by RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran, stars David Tennant in the title role with Oliver Ford Davies and Michael Pennington. The production will be filmed this evening and simultaneously screened into over 100 cinemas around the country and available in North America, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on">Northern Europe</st1:place>. The RSC is also opening up its work behind the scenes, through a series of short films available online during the run-up to the screening and live footage on the night, before the show and during the interval.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The production will be filmed using multiple cameras around the stage and auditorium, with John Wyver as producer, having previously collaborated with Gregory Doran on the RSC's highly acclaimed filmed versions of Macbeth, with Antony Sher and Harriet Walter, for Channel 4 and Hamlet, with David Tennant, and the recent African Julius Caesar for the BBC.</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Talking ahead of tonight's history making performance David said:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">“It’s very exciting to think that this is going to be beamed around the world, it’s going to be like experiencing, I hope, the live event. We won’t be changing our acting, we’ll still be acting for the back row of the stalls…it’ll feel hopefully like you’re in the theatre live with us.”</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">Watch him discussing the show below:</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xxFi0rDcHJI?rel=0" width="640"></iframe></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Find out more about the live cinema broadcast at <a href="https://onscreen.rsc.org.uk/">https://onscreen.rsc.org.uk/</a></span>

David Tennant Richard II Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Theatre Theatre David Tennant Stars In Richard II Live From Stratford-upon-Avon Tonight

David Tennant's Richard II will be broadcast live in to cinemas from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon tonight. The l...

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Richard II Is The Independent's Play Of The Week

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2202d5-wv4I0JC1kcbUmGXi2H0w4UmCzEQAd8g7u_-_VvF38x8aSXa61CveKadNA8BsEXWISCWH-r8mC5tgpytS6Ox1B86ad6HL6TimPHW_x2R9SC_8oGyWwf_w4ZqNg94Fbv_EWkOoY/s1600/rich31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2202d5-wv4I0JC1kcbUmGXi2H0w4UmCzEQAd8g7u_-_VvF38x8aSXa61CveKadNA8BsEXWISCWH-r8mC5tgpytS6Ox1B86ad6HL6TimPHW_x2R9SC_8oGyWwf_w4ZqNg94Fbv_EWkOoY/s640/rich31.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Royal Shakespeare Company's current production of Richard II which stars David Tennant in the title role is The Independent's Play Of The Week.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They say:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After their glorious Hamlet, David Tennant and Gregory Doran reunite for a lucid, gripping Richard II.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A splendid Tennant admirably resists any temptation to make the king likeable, exuding the bored irritability that erupts in tyrannical caprice.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Richard would always choose theatrical effect over political prudence, and with his gift for playfulness Tennant runs sarcastic rings round his usurper in the deposition scene.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But there isn't a weak link in the cast, from Nigel Lindsay's Bolingbroke to Michael Pennington's John of Gaunt, Oliver Rix's Aumerle and Oliver Ford Davies's Duke of York. A hit.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">0844 800 1110; rsc.org.uk; to 16 November</span><br /><br /><br />

David Tennant Press Richard II Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Theatre Theatre Richard II Is The Independent's Play Of The Week

The Royal Shakespeare Company's current production of Richard II which stars David Tennant in the title role is The Independent's Pl...

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REVIEW: Richard II Starring David Tennant - A Stunning Return To Stratford-upon-Avon

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNoTsOMiDRPlJpy2RUnY7bFSTt0uh6BTEeljN_82AaeITZq80efmWumd1CPOqKd0ASeuAEhhbxUUiHorcuI1BEfk7nfABxDdd6TB329AgP9h6VFnYJjzBqlNs7pTz86NHadCRU6xk6dNeh/s1600/WoS07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNoTsOMiDRPlJpy2RUnY7bFSTt0uh6BTEeljN_82AaeITZq80efmWumd1CPOqKd0ASeuAEhhbxUUiHorcuI1BEfk7nfABxDdd6TB329AgP9h6VFnYJjzBqlNs7pTz86NHadCRU6xk6dNeh/s1600/WoS07.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gregory Doran’s much anticipated staging of <i>Richard II</i> opened last night at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in <st1:place w:st="on">Stratford-upon-Avon</st1:place>. The production also marked the return to Stratford of David Tennant, taking the title role in his first collaboration with Doran since <i>Hamlet </i>and <i>Love’s Labours Lost</i> (2008). Expectation has been high since the announcement of the play in January; those expectations have indeed been met and the outcome is stunning.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David Tennant, it must be said, is superb in one of Shakepeare’s most challenging roles, giving the misunderstood, self-absorbed and unlikeable king both pathos and a wry humour. His Richard is a lofty creature, a spoilt child in the body of a man, vain, haughty, capricious and selfish. Tennant floats around the stage, an androgynous figure clad in flowing robes with his lengthy locks cascading as, with head held back, sneering down his nose, he makes decisions seemingly on a whim. Yet the power of David Tennant is that we can go from recoiling in horror from Richard at his mistreatment of the dying Gaunt to, just a few scenes later, choking with emotion along with him as he realises that he has taken his divine right to kingship for granted and that his power is now slipping from his grasp. The turning point in our feelings towards Richard must be the point at which he learns of the fate of Bushey and Green: the numbing shock and horror is clear on Tennant’s face and the emotional charge runs on through to a poignant ‘death of kings’ speech. Tennant captures the mercurial quality of the king’s character with ease and his deep understanding of the text shines through as he draws subtle meaning from the words and brings what could be stilted verse to sparkling life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQRdgR4RuNpZUu80HbT3mjgGmjfNeaTMtv-O9nPVDHp6F-hYs78EhgcWk_J54P6DdkzoSluzcmjHRdF0fRcbkzGpzzvVHvZVEX4p_SI0jLKD3dQH2HUE26QapcpoaRtxntI6mAg4IZbhQ/s1600/WoS13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQRdgR4RuNpZUu80HbT3mjgGmjfNeaTMtv-O9nPVDHp6F-hYs78EhgcWk_J54P6DdkzoSluzcmjHRdF0fRcbkzGpzzvVHvZVEX4p_SI0jLKD3dQH2HUE26QapcpoaRtxntI6mAg4IZbhQ/s1600/WoS13.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, it’s not all for David Tennant to carry the weight of the complex narrative and thankfully there is not a weak member of the cast. Nigel Lindsay is perfect as a commanding Bolingbroke: even in the early scenes it is possible to see the king that this nobleman and warrior will soon become. Michael Pennington plays John of Gaunt with a fierce dignity, railing against injustices and standing up for what he holds dear right to his dying breath. Oliver Ford Davies gives an astounding performance as the Duke of York, an honourable, traditional man who finds himself suddenly encumbered with the great burden of governing a fractured nation. He is torn and bewildered as he struggles to reconcile his obedience to his king with what he realises to be the ethical course of action. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Richard II</i> is not a play known for its wealth of strong female roles. Emma Hamilton finds in the role of the Queen a sense of loyalty and love, even though that love might be unrequited. Her performance is bookended by those of two older women. Jane Lapotaire makes an explosive return to the RSC in her single scene as the grief-wracked Duchess of Gloucester, while Marty Cruickshank as the Duchess of York wrings humour out of what could be a grim situation as she pleads for the life of her son, Aumerle.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oliver Rix also has to be commended for his loyal and emotional Aumerle. Richard’s gentler moments are shared with his kinsman, and as Richard’s fall becomes unavoidable, the young man struggles to accept what his king has already understood. Their obvious tenderness is overplayed by neither Rix nor Tennant.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The open space of the theatre lends itself to a stark yet atmospheric set. Greg Doran spoke during development of the verticality that he perceived in the play and through the minimalist designs of Stephen Brimson Lewis he makes the most of the building’s height, from upper galleries to the understage and including a mechanical gangway from which the King distances himself from his subjects. Ironically as Richard falls he becomes less cruel and feckless and more humble and human and almost likeable. There are distinct parallels, certainly suggested by his appearance, with a Christ-like figure on the road to crucifixion. Doran has given the climax of the drama his own sharp twist, which is signposted by an ambiguous moment: a genuine display of love which is equally a betrayal by a Judas figure.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCluIhxvtpEMfOwESXSPLh-HZUWh4ttBEbBNAXTv4wKyqu7iRQfA8hr9BnQaGagIZ0voQOA7Z_ggGODmeax53HZjL3J_1o0ji7iYRINpaY5ot_envInM8pfR0LpmMIWAJPI21qy5aVMsy/s1600/RII-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCluIhxvtpEMfOwESXSPLh-HZUWh4ttBEbBNAXTv4wKyqu7iRQfA8hr9BnQaGagIZ0voQOA7Z_ggGODmeax53HZjL3J_1o0ji7iYRINpaY5ot_envInM8pfR0LpmMIWAJPI21qy5aVMsy/s640/RII-15.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The production is staged in traditional dress. However, it is notable that the themes of political wastefulness, ambition, greed and backstabbing and general public dissatisfaction remain as relevant now as they were when it was originally performed. Our public figures, the great and the good, are never more than a few errors in judgement away from falling from grace and there is always someone waiting in the wings to take their place. David Tennant has achieved the task here of ensuring that his fallen king is neither hated nor mocked but instead has the ready sympathy of the audience. And he has done so with consummate ease. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Richard II is in residence at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in <st1:place w:st="on">Stratford-upon-Avon</st1:place> until 16th November 2013. It transfers to the Barbican in <st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city>on 9th December where it plays until 25th January 2014. Both runs are currently sold out but returns are available: call the RSC on 0844 800 1110 to check availability </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.david-tennant.com/2009/id194.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More information about Richard II starring David Tennant is available on our website</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

David Tennant Gregory Doran Richard II Royal Shakespeare Theatre Theatre REVIEW: Richard II Starring David Tennant - A Stunning Return To Stratford-upon-Avon

Gregory Doran’s much anticipated staging of Richard II opened last night at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon . The prod...

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UPDATED: David Tennant's Richard II Opens In Stratford-upon-Avon To Rave Reviews

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqTZf1pw_weJTT-BasPX6EC8aCS0pFgCpnii4aMkXJGiIDmvCuQfsS5O6G5OP3zmmKTmsMOxxgi42JjPpVDcuVYr8nug_Z93abpAEboXDmQGuhnmwNiVLbC2jAizrTA72aEEK8-fkOijI/s1600/rich1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="568" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqTZf1pw_weJTT-BasPX6EC8aCS0pFgCpnii4aMkXJGiIDmvCuQfsS5O6G5OP3zmmKTmsMOxxgi42JjPpVDcuVYr8nug_Z93abpAEboXDmQGuhnmwNiVLbC2jAizrTA72aEEK8-fkOijI/s640/rich1.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /> <br /> David Tennant's latest theatre project, Richard II, has opened to rave reviews after it's Press Night at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon last night.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>It's a 4 star review from The Times with Dominic Maxwell saying:</b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He hasn't got a clue has he? You can see that from the moment David Tennant's Richard II arrives on stage with his chin uo, his hair Timotei-long, his robes and his diction refined to the point of self parody. This takes a moment to adjust to. So regularly do we root for Tennant as the heroic outsider, whether in Doctor Who or Broadchurch or even in his RSC Hamlet, that it's odd to see him back a losing horse. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When he descends from the ceiling on a golden throne, the gap couldn't be clearer between his notion of himself as a God-given ruler and our notion of him as a bit of a berk.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not that Tennant's performance or Gregory Doran's RSC production turn out to be cartoonish. One of the hottest tickets of the year long before it opened, this is a clear, propulsive, absorbing three hours of a history play that is no cinch to stage. After all, it's in verse. It has no battles. At the first sign of uprising, the belly aching Richard pretty much deposes himself ("Let's talk of graves, of worms, of epitaphs..."). "Richard II is not an action packed drama", understates the introduction to the Penguin edition of the play. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here, though, it grips, aided by Paul Englishby's beautiful period music and Stephen Brimson Lewis's spare, guilded sets. And what Tennant does, brilliantly, is to suggest a man who feels as hollow as his crown. Who play acts at being himself. Who makes bad judgments, such as expelling his cousing Bolingbroke, soon to become Henry IV, that are a weak man's idea of being strong. He is hiding his true sexuality too, to judge by his long kiss with his cousin, Oliver Rix's Aumerle. And when he is trounced by Nigel Lindsay's stocky, gym-teacher-like Bolingbroke, he goes from ruler to martyr. he proffers the crown as if holding out a stick to a dog ("Here, cousin!").</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's electrifying.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We don't love him, but we get his grief in a play suffused with a sense of loss. Jane Lapotaire's Duchess of Gloucester mourns her husband and Michael Pennington's John Of Gaunt mourns what Richard has done to England in anguished moments that are both magnificent and a bit hard to absorb so early on. By the second half, though, Doran's production can sell everything from wit to desolation. Near the end, the Yorks, played by Oliver Ford Davies and Marty Cruickshank, row about his turning in their son, Aumerle as a traitor. It's pretty funny. It's also a resonant reminder of how the power play and posturing of politics is no job for amateurs. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8A69tkeeGVcT9vSElHkjmf3OaU_aRIpKvB_1uUKL74_zBV2b6sEYmRN52DF0urgVRLDXW5z1PIpOyw94Ci3CzX_A2DDVw1sVyaBlqe3PgZzzlY4TGQdHXw0lTLK5UrLq81IBtExt0vAE/s1600/r2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8A69tkeeGVcT9vSElHkjmf3OaU_aRIpKvB_1uUKL74_zBV2b6sEYmRN52DF0urgVRLDXW5z1PIpOyw94Ci3CzX_A2DDVw1sVyaBlqe3PgZzzlY4TGQdHXw0lTLK5UrLq81IBtExt0vAE/s1600/r2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Writing a 4 star review for <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/first-night-richard-ii-royal-shakespeare-theatre-stratforduponavon-8887542.html#" target="_blank">The Independent</a> Paul Taylor says:</b></span><br /><div class="storyContent" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15.546875px; text-align: justify;"><h5><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">They covered themselves in glory five years ago with Hamlet; now David Tennant and Gregory Doran join forces again for this lucid and gripping account of Richard II. Having played the most intellectually searching of Shakespeare’s protagonists, who is painfully miscast as a revenge hero, Tennant – in splendid form here – trains his talents on the most self-absorbed and inward-looking of the Bard’s monarchs, who is fatally miscast as God’s anointed deputy on earth.</span></span></h5></div><div class="storyContent" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><div class="body"><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In his gorgeous, gold-embroidered robes (and long, flowing hair extensions, to boot), this Richard is wrapped in the mystique of medieval majesty. But he occupies the Gothic throne with a slouch of disgruntlement, his features congealed in disdain. Admirably resisting any temptation to make the king likeable, Tennant vividly exudes the bored irritability that erupts in tyrannical caprice. And impatience is making him reckless, too. In this production, he brazenly hears the dispute between Bolingbroke and Mowbray at the (interpolated) ceremonial lying-in-state of the Duke of Gloucester, whose murky murder (and, implicitly, Richard’s involvement in it) is itself the bone of contention.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But then Richard is a monarch who would always choose theatrical effect over political prudence. With his great gift for playfulness, Tennant runs heavily sarcastic rings round his usurper in the deposition scene. Holding the crown at arm’s length, and with his back to the assembled company, he calls out “Here cousin”, in the tones of someone inviting a dog to play fetch. This is not a Richard who luxuriates in the lyricism of grief. Tennant delivers the plaintive, self-pitying arias with a scathing irony for the most part, flecked by tiny surrenders to abject panic – as though he were at once sufferer and observer of the tragic process whereby, when the royal persona shatters, it exposes the naked, insecure person underneath. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By contrast, Nigel Lindsay’s Bolingbroke presents himself as a plain-speaking bloke who has returned from exile solely to claim his rightful inheritance – though there’s a suggestion in his hooded watchfulness and the brutality with which he dispatches Richard’s flatterers that he has a devious, long-term strategy. He plays his cards close to his chest and is embarrassed by Richard, whose upstaging antics leave him having to force face-saving laughter in front of his followers.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Interestingly, though, Doran is more interested in the king’s relationship with his other cousin, the young Aumerle. I should perhaps issue a spoiler alert for the rest of this paragraph. This production gives the pair a charged, private sequence on the walls of Flint Castle (evoked by the mobile gantry that slices across Stephen Brimson Lewis’s excellent design). The monarch’s speech of speculative capitulation (“What must the King do now? Must he submit?”) reduces his devoted number one supporter to such heartfelt, quiet tears that Tennant’s Richard is touched to a moment of rare compassion for another creature – treating his cousin to a tenderly passionate kiss and a cradling on his breast. But Aumerle, whose riven emotional state is beautifully conveyed by Oliver Rix, turns into the production’s most extreme casualty of the world of divided loyalties. Shopped to the new king by his own father for his treacherous plots, to what desperate lengths might such a man go to prove that he’s been born again politically? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There isn’t a weak link in the cast. Ferocious eloquence overcomes deathbed infirmity in Michael Pennington’s superb portrayal of John of Gaunt, and Oliver Ford Davies gives a fine edge of grumpy comedy to the Duke of York’s conscience-stricken dithering. Another palpable hit for the Tennant/Doran collaboration, the production transfers to the Barbican in December and will be broadcast live in cinemas on 13 November.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYEUaQ91yFiBgZGmUqw-4NOCQlvFJdKb4iY2TGVYgrnkQ1IaIpV_qpGncUk81XgFFWajoklYMj02BYXstnt30EwLNrAmFsW1pYBVTBuml5Pa2MJkl6u1Cv4IG-TL1_U6qjcSUwrDBswM/s1600/r12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYEUaQ91yFiBgZGmUqw-4NOCQlvFJdKb4iY2TGVYgrnkQ1IaIpV_qpGncUk81XgFFWajoklYMj02BYXstnt30EwLNrAmFsW1pYBVTBuml5Pa2MJkl6u1Cv4IG-TL1_U6qjcSUwrDBswM/s1600/r12.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://t.co/jjsNaSWmEC" target="_blank">The Guardian's</a> Michael Billington also gives 4 stars and heaps praise upon the cast and creatives:</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This show marks the start of Gregory Doran's six-year plan to present the entire Shakespeare canon. It's fair to say that his own beautifully crafted, richly detailed production sets a high standard for himself and others to aim at. David Tennant, in a mesmerising performance that grows in power as Richard's authority declines, also reminds us that the Royal Shakespeare Company is an ensemble that paradoxically needs stars.</span></div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's a sign of Doran's care that he makes clear the complex back-story that illuminates Shakespeare's play. An audience needs to know that Richard's original sin lies in sanctioning the murder of his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester. Michael Boyd began his 2007 production by having Richard stepping lightly over the corpse of the dead duke. Doran, even before Richard's entry, shows us elaborate funeral rites with three sopranos singing religious anthems in the upper galleries and the Duchess of Gloucester bent in grief over her husband's tomb. This is clearly a court steeped in mourning.</span></div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The prelude also gives Tennant a vital context in which to work. His Richard, with his brocade gown and Christ-like hair, initially affects an air of listless boredom as his burly barons hurl accusations of treason at each other. But there's a thrilling moment when Tennant gives the banished Mowbray a piercing stare as if daring him to spill the beans about the king's part in Gloucester's murder. Tennant combines inner guilt with a careless disregard for realpolitik as he seizes the land and goods of John of Gaunt after his death: a point reinforced here by the fact that we see tuns of treasure being bodily transported.</span></div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tennant's strengths, as we know from his Hamlet, are a capacity for quicksilver thought and an almost boyish vulnerability. And, even if he might do more to convey the patterned lyricism of the language, what he brings out excellently is the fact that Richard only learns to value kingship after he has lost it. In his decline, Tennant casually tosses the crown away and, at one point, skittishly places it on the head of his adored Aumerle. But in the Westminster deposition scene, where Tennant is at his best, he challenges Bolingbroke to "seize the crown" and, when his rival rises to the bait, immediately inverts it to suggest a falling bucket. Tennant's great achievement is to attract our sympathy to what the gardener calls a "wasteful king" who abuses power when he has it and who achieves tragic dignity only in his downfall.</span></div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But this production, which combines period costumes with back-projections in Stephen Brimson Lewis's elegant design, is emphatically no one-man show. Nigel Lindsay's Bolingbroke is a palpably dangerous figure who treats Richard's remission of his initial banishment with surly disdain and openly scorns the deposed king's self-conscious theatricality. It is also good to see a number of RSC veterans operating at top form in key roles.</span></div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oliver Ford Davies is brilliant as the Duke of York in that he highlights both the comedy and pathos of a man torn between ancestral loyalty to the crown and a recognition of Bolingbroke's power. Michael Pennington's John of Gaunt is also a fine study of a dying man bursting with intemperate rage at Richard's betrayal of his country. And Jane Lapotaire turns the Duchess of Gloucester into a silver-haired figure whose widowed grief manifests itself in a burning appetite for revenge.</span></div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The packed houses for this production's run in both Stratford and at the Barbican may have much to do with Tennant's star presence. But this is the strongest company the RSC has fielded in years, and what Doran's production brings out is the rich complexity of a play that raises the eternal question of at what point it becomes legitimate to unseat a manifestly flawed ruler. Shakespeare's play may be set in 14th-century England. It remains, however, a timelessly political work.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPuqquCtmD2RVhKBWxItVSBrQn7mRqAG2k3jgUHOJRPU1tfv5FBkBHqtAT8h7YFBdrfaGUYcQLU71-2aBpTqDJ6SbwbrYtsoAriYK_D0FELCLBbfauR-wc9jYP0xWLsaxWN06FoLCXkbs/s1600/r13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPuqquCtmD2RVhKBWxItVSBrQn7mRqAG2k3jgUHOJRPU1tfv5FBkBHqtAT8h7YFBdrfaGUYcQLU71-2aBpTqDJ6SbwbrYtsoAriYK_D0FELCLBbfauR-wc9jYP0xWLsaxWN06FoLCXkbs/s1600/r13.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>It's another 4 star review from <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/10385663/Richard-II-Royal-Shakespeare-Theatre-Stratford-upon-Avon-review.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">The Telegraph's</a> Dominic Cavendish:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /> <span style="text-align: start;">Five years after his </span>spellbinding Hamlet<span style="text-align: start;">, David Tennant is back at the RSC and reunited with director (now artistic director) Gregory Doran for Richard II. Last time round there was a lot of hoo-ha about Doctor Who and a box-office frenzy. Maybe there’ll be more of that again, with Tennant joining Matt Smith for the 50th anniversary special next month. But for the moment, a calm air of focus prevails; Tennant, 42, is in his natural element – and day tickets are available.</span></span><br /><div class="secondPar" style="line-height: normal; text-align: start;"><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His hair takes some getting used to: great gingery-brown extensions trail girlishly downwards. Long, magisterial, quasi-medieval robes add to the effeminate impression. In Act III, at Flint Castle, beset by ruin, this Richard leans close and kisses his cousin Aumerle (the youthful, boyish Oliver Rix) on the lips. As with Hamlet, so with Richard – there’s an identity crisis at play (“remember who you are”, Aumerle counsels, as if that were possible), but here it’s of a sexual nature too. And in a further directorial flourish, Doran makes Aumerle the last face the imprisoned, ousted monarch sees, plunging the dagger into him.</span></div></div><div class="thirdPar" style="line-height: normal; text-align: start;"><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Overall, though, this production is more reverent than radical. Doran has suggested he will work slowly, steadily, through the canon – and the first scene especially, in which Nigel Lindsay’s tough, gruff, almost too-too solid Bolingbroke squares up to Antony Byrne’s aggrieved Mowbray – each accusing the other of treason – feels slow and steady to a fault. Richard’s reign, some 20 years in at this stage (1398), was in severe trouble. Thanks to an emphasised aura of restraint – signalled by a stark, simple set from Stephen Brimson Lewis, augmented by subtle projections on towering screens – you don’t get much sense of the hurly-burly of this chapter of history or of events spinning wildly out of the king’s weakening control.</span></div></div><div class="fourthPar" style="line-height: normal; text-align: start;"><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With his startled eyes and concentrated frown, Tennant is frail, pale and consistently interesting but the nervous energy he excels in is confined to quarters early on. Trumpets sound, sopranos trill sacred music as if wafting incense; the king is embalmed in ceremony, cloaked in remoteness.</span></div></div><div class="fifthPar" style="text-align: start;"><div style="line-height: normal; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s the older hands who galvanise proceedings with emotional intensity in the first half. A quivering Jane Lapotaire as the widowed Duchess of Gloucester, spilling over with unconfined grief, that perpetually stooped, hangdog actor Oliver Ford Davies as the fretful Duke of York and Michael Pennington, little short of magnificent as John of Gaunt – lending febrile and ferocious emphasis to his “This sceptr’d isle” speech and to those last-gasp accusations against Richard.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The evening is always lucid but only truly crystalises as things fall apart. Richard spasms with panic as he grasps the frailty of existence, crawling on the floor in abjection. He’s appealingly sardonic as he bows in exaggeration before his usurper, and at the end, having taken on the aspect of Christ, he appears aloft on a gantry, looking down in beatific accusation as Bolingbroke contemplates the blood on his hands. Tennant shines, but he has shone brighter.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmBH9kWWElSe3qGXqrS9-eFFgic0h2B4_a1z027qu2Y8u9wUGiYi6SG0J67OzRkjEYVfYEDrqiT9tpXlfEFyVjRinktkGlX5kaVntZrHTr0YmMvTMuF_McCmfdd2cAEECbcBEcFMOWS8/s1600/r17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmBH9kWWElSe3qGXqrS9-eFFgic0h2B4_a1z027qu2Y8u9wUGiYi6SG0J67OzRkjEYVfYEDrqiT9tpXlfEFyVjRinktkGlX5kaVntZrHTr0YmMvTMuF_McCmfdd2cAEECbcBEcFMOWS8/s1600/r17.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;"><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/theatre/437598/Richard-II-at-RSC-Stratford-upon-Avon-review" target="_blank">The Daily Express</a> gives a 5 star review with Neil Norman saying:</b></span></div><div class="p1" style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Often represented as effete and capricious, even gay, Richard needs a very special actor to seek out all the crevices of his personality.</span></div><div class="p1" style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David Tennant is that actor. From the moment he arrives on stage in a kind of gilded sheath with his long hair held back by a crown to attend his uncle Gloucester's funeral, he shows us with sly precision a man in thrall to his own vanity, seduced by his anointed position and intelligent enough to be aware of both. As his role becomes increasingly challenging and challenged by the remorseless Bolingbroke (Nigel Lindsay), Richard's doubts about his fitness to rule leak out as if from invisible wounds while the sub-textual debates - pragmatist v aesthete, philistine v artist - hover in the ether.</span></div><div class="p1" style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gregory Doran's production is superbly orchestrated from the opening funeral in a soaring Gothic cathedral with three sopranos and musicians to Richard's abdication which turns into a tug-of-war over the crown with Bolingbroke.</span></div><div class="p1" style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a lucid, moving production packed with tremendous performances. From Michael Pennington's John of Gaunt, the last great Englishman, to Oliver Ford Davies's wonderfully bewildered Duke of York. Emma Hamilton as the Queen, Marty Cruickshank as the Duchess of York and Jane Lapotaire as the bereaved Duchess of Gloucester all make striking contributions.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The sense of England is prevalent throughout. Returning from Ireland Richard strokes the ground with a lover's caress, as if nourished by the earth itself. Whether sashaying around like a 14th-century David Bowie or stumbling like a Christ figure hauled before Bolingbroke's Pontius Pilate, Tennant captures Richard's androgyny, suggesting a man more asexual than bisexual. But he is no pushover. When the murderers come for him he goes down fighting. I was sorely tempted to cheer.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"><div style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Verdict: 5/5</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjym_HFVfXyVynAKVr2yNb0trktrEhqQcsFO6JXWRsnNAmha64S6KiHEuXveI0nOTREvG87fTgFlyW5oOk-J4-8u6P7wsS05yFdgUbKMg7J4Tway9FkC2TKfXveOKBa_p8FhWg-8-ldrOg/s1600/r14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjym_HFVfXyVynAKVr2yNb0trktrEhqQcsFO6JXWRsnNAmha64S6KiHEuXveI0nOTREvG87fTgFlyW5oOk-J4-8u6P7wsS05yFdgUbKMg7J4Tway9FkC2TKfXveOKBa_p8FhWg-8-ldrOg/s1600/r14.jpg" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/richard-ii-royal-shakespeare-theatre--theatre-review-8888556.html" target="_blank">Henry Hitchings also rates the show as 4 star in The Evening Standard:</a></b></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Five years on from his electrifying Hamlet, David Tennant returns to the Royal Shakespeare Company to play Richard II. From the moment of its announcement this has been one of the year’s hottest tickets.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Tennant does not disappoint. He delivers a vivid, intelligent performance, at least as mesmerising as the best of his TV work. He is certainly not afraid to make Richard dislikable. Instead of the poetic soul we tend to see, his Richard is irritable. In the early scenes he is petulant and smug.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">With fluting voice and waist-length hair (Tennant sports mighty extensions) he is a picture of prissy narcissism. And he skips around the stage like a child who has had too many sweets.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">From the outset Tennant’s Richard is excitingly unpredictable and as his authority crumbles he transforms intriguingly from a gilded tyrant into a more vulnerable character — yet one who is capable of bursts of aggression. By the end he is a holy man in a flowing white robe.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Gregory Doran’s production moves slowly for the first hour or so but it is satisfying both visually and dramatically. It also benefits from the strongest RSC cast in a long time.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Tennant’s Richard contrasts nicely with Nigel Lindsay’s robust, manly Bolingbroke. Michael Pennington makes a poignantly eloquent John of Gaunt, while Jane Lapotaire and Marty Cruickshank bring real substance to lesser roles. Oliver Ford Davies deserves a special mention: his Duke of York is an unalloyed delight.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Doran places an unusual emphasis on the king’s cousin Aumerle (Oliver Rix) and it is Richard’s relationship with him — coloured by awkward lust — that defines the production.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">This is a clear, detailed and dynamic account of a drama that can often seem glutted with artful rhetoric and ceremonial formality. It is an impressive start to Doran’s campaign to stage all Shakespeare’s plays. Richard II will come to the Barbican in December, as well as being shown in cinemas on November 13.</span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div>

David Tennant Gregory Doran Reviews Richard II Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Theatre Theatre UPDATED: David Tennant's Richard II Opens In Stratford-upon-Avon To Rave Reviews

David Tennant's latest theatre project, Richard II, has opened to rave reviews after it's Press Night at The Royal Shakespeare The...

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Richard II Press Night Tonight

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_Zh6-qGJ0m1QZICDy4tWakufSZ8Mq7T-5JFVo7EMBpzufTNFdxHqFhTlzFw2aQwPTYbU39yy0yBPYYSgMzVbSLbqOXuZwRozv-EBa9AldLZRW6rAN3TXqCeBpTQhRiC8EozXJqsJWr8/s1600/dick2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_Zh6-qGJ0m1QZICDy4tWakufSZ8Mq7T-5JFVo7EMBpzufTNFdxHqFhTlzFw2aQwPTYbU39yy0yBPYYSgMzVbSLbqOXuZwRozv-EBa9AldLZRW6rAN3TXqCeBpTQhRiC8EozXJqsJWr8/s640/dick2.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tonight is the Press Night for Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The show opened for previews on 10th October and will play in residence at the theatre until 16th November 2013 when it will then transfer to The Barbican in London.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The run is completely sold out, but there may be returns. You can get returns by phoning the RSC Ticket Hotline on 0844 800 1110.</span><br /><br /><br />

David Tennant Events Richard II Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Theatre Theatre Richard II Press Night Tonight

Tonight is the Press Night for Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The show opened for previews on 10th Octo...

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Gregory Doran Gives Director's Talk This Evening

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8gpyA_HNONNF8FBR3C_XaiXZavoQZ-B5YHUfeqgSIXzTBTsIQqISbiK0TH6S2Rx_Ex0BOO5X7FZAmNnDQVsTOSaUiuX9ztsHscWfbL2ikHVAKJ6Rf5uKr8xlxmHzZrK2a5WO02Ff0dQU/s1600/re7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8gpyA_HNONNF8FBR3C_XaiXZavoQZ-B5YHUfeqgSIXzTBTsIQqISbiK0TH6S2Rx_Ex0BOO5X7FZAmNnDQVsTOSaUiuX9ztsHscWfbL2ikHVAKJ6Rf5uKr8xlxmHzZrK2a5WO02Ff0dQU/s1600/re7.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Richard II's director, Gregory Doran, will be giving a talk about the play at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon this evening at 5.15pm.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a ticket only event.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Richard II with David Tennant is playing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon until Saturday 16th November 2013.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The run is sold out but you can check for returns by calling the RSC Ticket Hotline on 0844 800 1110</span></span><br /><br /><br />

David Tennant Events Gregory Doran Richard II Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Theatre Theatre Gregory Doran Gives Director's Talk This Evening

Richard II's director, Gregory Doran, will be giving a talk about the play at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon this ...

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Richard II Opens Tonight For Previews In Stratford-upon-Avon

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighb99j_r8GGmv4JDu5Pq0v0WPaKDuzTFDoK68uUfqVV_1ylceb_5tSYuP75qsAeYG759bRnO5dr1IFfs5nBt2cwXDadULXMDPCkXLPVUUoahkvZZEUkrqI1KGIA48bGd30jpTKkLn_Cg/s1600/re3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighb99j_r8GGmv4JDu5Pq0v0WPaKDuzTFDoK68uUfqVV_1ylceb_5tSYuP75qsAeYG759bRnO5dr1IFfs5nBt2cwXDadULXMDPCkXLPVUUoahkvZZEUkrqI1KGIA48bGd30jpTKkLn_Cg/s640/re3.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David Tennant's latest play with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Richard II, opens for previews tonight at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The play <span style="line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">will run until 16th November 2013. It will then transfer to the Barbican Theatre in </span><st1:city style="line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;" w:st="on">London</st1:city><span style="line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"> from December 9th 2013 until 25th January 2014. The cast includes David Tennant, Emma Hamilton, Nigel Lindsay, Michael Pennington, Jane Lapotaire and Oliver Ford Davies and it is directed by Gregory Doran. </span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="border: 0px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Richard II</span><span style="line-height: 16px;"> in Stratford-upon-Avon is now sold out. Please check with the Box Office on 0844 800 1110 for returns.</span></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; outline: none;"><span style="display: inline; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://news.david-tennant.com/2009/id194.html" style="display: inline; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Find out more about Richard II starring David Tennant on our website</a></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; outline: none;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; outline: none;"><br /></span></div>

David Tennant Richard II Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Theatre Theatre Richard II Opens Tonight For Previews In Stratford-upon-Avon

David Tennant's latest play with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Richard II, opens for previews tonight at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre ...

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