fri 29/03/2024

Shakespeare Double Bill, Propeller, Hampstead Theatre | reviews, news & interviews

Shakespeare Double Bill, Propeller, Hampstead Theatre

Shakespeare Double Bill, Propeller, Hampstead Theatre

Unstarry but stunning, Ed Hall's all-male Richard III gets in ahead of Kevin Spacey

Stealing a march, and then some, on Kevin Spacey: Richard Clothier plays Richard IIIManuel Harlan

As further proof that Shakespeare plays come these days not as single spies but in battalions, the London leg of the all-male Propeller ensemble's lengthy tour has pitched up in the capital in time to deliver their Richard III within days of Kevin Spacey's debut in that very role at the Old Vic. Think of it as the battle for supremacy over the Bard's second-longest play or not, one thing seems clear: you're unlikely to find as abundantly bloody and brutal an account of this particular Shakespearean horror show for some while to come. Is director Edward Hall bidding to become the British theatre's very own Tobe Hooper? On the dazzling evidence of his Richard, that would appear to be the case.

As further proof that Shakespeare plays come these days not as single spies but in battalions, the London leg of the all-male Propeller ensemble's lengthy tour has pitched up in the capital in time to deliver their Richard III within days of Kevin Spacey's debut in that very role at the Old Vic. Think of it as the battle for supremacy over the Bard's second-longest play or not, one thing seems clear: you're unlikely to find as abundantly bloody and brutal an account of this particular Shakespearean horror show for some while to come. Is director Edward Hall bidding to become the British theatre's very own Tobe Hooper? On the dazzling evidence of his Richard, that would appear to be the case.

Richard Clothier takes a no-nonsense approach to a part that lends itself to scenery-chomping

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