RICHARD III
RICHARD III, Ensemble Theatre, June 27 –July 19, Riverside Theatres Parramatta July 22-26, 2014. Photography by Clare Hawley, (above) Toni Scanlan, Matt Edgerton, Mark Kilmurry and Danielle Carter; (right) Mark Kilmurry.
Mark Kilmurry’s performance as Richard III at the Ensemble Theatre won’t please everyone.
His royal tyrant is a runty hobgoblin of a man twisted as much by resentment and greed as by genetic deformity. Not for him the brooding menace of Kevin Spacey or Sir Ian McKellan or other Richard III’s of stage and screen. This version is a home-grown monster, an underestimated and oft-ignored little scrapper determined to win the throne at any cost.
It’s a perceptive and very human portrayal that ties in well with Kilmurry's (who also directs)desire to reimagine Shakespeare’s play for a modern audience.
There are other changes too: the four-hour running time has been condensed into a more manageable two hours plus interval, while the traditional courtly stage sets and misty battlefields have been replaced with a grotty cellar filled with abandoned furniture and a stack of boxy black and white TVs.
The six-strong cast are on the run from something – although from what is never made clear – and the performance is interrupted regularly by the sounds of barking dogs and circling helicopters.
If that sounds a little Orwellian, it’s deliberate. Kilmurry wants us to imagine the play is being performed in a world where art is not allowed, and all expression of it performed under cover of darkness and at great personal risk. The question is: why? There’s no real reason or context given, and I suspect without Kilmurry's explanatory note in the program, we would never find out.
It’s a shame because the rest of the play is so solid.
As Richard, Kilmurry’s performance is intriguing, and he’s ably supported by a silver-tongued Patrick Dickson as his loyal supporter Buckingham.
There are excellent performances too from the supporting cast, particularly Danielle Carter and Toni Scanlan as Queen Elizabeth and the Duchess of York respectively, both left with nothing after sacrificing husbands, brothers and sons to the bloody power struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster.
Elsewhere, Matt Edgerton brings some much-needed humour to the second half when he doubles up as messengers and royal hangers-on, Catesby and Ratcliff. Switching instantly between them with the simple addition of a pair of specs and a change in accent and mannerisms, he makes a highlight of what would otherwise be a nondescript scene.
Individually then, the components of this Richard III are very good. Getting the premise behind it right, however, would make it more than just the sum of those parts.
