undisputed medieval English king, Alex Jennings showed the repercussions of a tyrannical regime on the people subjected to his rule. Ron Daniels’ “stand-alone” production had a modern context: the world of realpolitik. The theater program included a double-page spread on tyrannical regimes throughout history with a printed quote across the centerfold in red: “Mussolini would have liked to have been a poet just as Hitler would have liked to have been a greatpainter—most dictators, it seems, are artists manqués.” 84 Maria Jones describes the start of the performance:
The tyranny of Richard’s regime was suggested through his personal bodyguard, the Cheshire archers, who trained their crossbows on the audience … Sinister guards in greatcoats and fur helmets recalled East European guards and referenced the tyrannical regime in Romania under Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu who were executed in December 1989 … Richard (Alex Jennings) entered “magnificently attired,” wearing “the kind of crown a Holy Roman Emperor might have worn.” His divine authority was emphasized through the presence of the Bishop of Carlisle (John Bott) standing behind the throne in ceremonial robes and bishop’s mitre. Sinking “voluptuously into the throne,” Jennings portrayed a monarch “utterly entranced with the role, the power, the trappings of kingship.” 85
The presence of a “false” white proscenium arch cast Richard as the “leading actor” of an illusory world and the production conveyed the idea that dictators appropriate images to produce distorted versions of reality, feeding off illusionary visions of themselves. 86 A huge, extravagant baroque Guido Reni backdrop created an effect that mythologized Richard’s tragic downfall through the story of Atalanta stooping to retrieve Hippomene’s apples, creating “a pictorial analogue of Bullingbrook’s ascendancy, an image of victory through flight from a diverted opponent. Atalanta stoops just as Richard, the glistering phaeton, descends.” 87 Richard appeared like a spoiled child, jealously guarding his favorite “toys,” the orb, scepter and crown, which he kept in his “toy-box” and that would later be carried into Westminster Hall. Michael Billington of the
Guardian
commented on “a highly exciting performance from Anton Lesser” who played Bullingbrook:
Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike, like certain modern politicians, Mr Lesser’s Bullingbrook exhibits a wonderful mixtureof power-hunger and residual guilt: the classic moment comes with Richard’s ironic offer of “Here, cousin, seize the crown” when Mr Lesser instinctively backs off as if the diadem itself were charged with electricity. 88
Jennings was praised as “a commanding presence throughout,” but some thought “the fascist/Stalinist touch in the production is a touch over-done” with “every character, save Richard, dressed in black.” 89
Steven Pimlott (2000)
Steven Pimlott’s production of
Richard II
in the intimate studio space of The Other Place was the first in the RSC’s two-year project “This England: The Histories,” a “cycle” of all eight plays in chronological order for which “there would be no attempt to impose a single directorial or design concept.” 90 Puzzled by the decision to choose different directors, designers, and venues, one critic asked: “Why stage a cycle if you plan an anti-cyclical style?” 91 Another provided an answer: “This variety is in deference to the stylistic contrasts of the plays, but you can also see the fragmentation as a response to the devolving nature of Britain, and the evolving character of its monarchy.” 92
Pimlott’s approach, it was suggested, “dramatically opened up
Richard II
to the present moment, and opened up the present moment to the play.” 93 The permanent white-box set designed by Sue Willmington, with environment designed by David Fielding, released the actors to tell the story “in what
The tyranny of Richard’s regime was suggested through his personal bodyguard, the Cheshire archers, who trained their crossbows on the audience … Sinister guards in greatcoats and fur helmets recalled East European guards and referenced the tyrannical regime in Romania under Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu who were executed in December 1989 … Richard (Alex Jennings) entered “magnificently attired,” wearing “the kind of crown a Holy Roman Emperor might have worn.” His divine authority was emphasized through the presence of the Bishop of Carlisle (John Bott) standing behind the throne in ceremonial robes and bishop’s mitre. Sinking “voluptuously into the throne,” Jennings portrayed a monarch “utterly entranced with the role, the power, the trappings of kingship.” 85
The presence of a “false” white proscenium arch cast Richard as the “leading actor” of an illusory world and the production conveyed the idea that dictators appropriate images to produce distorted versions of reality, feeding off illusionary visions of themselves. 86 A huge, extravagant baroque Guido Reni backdrop created an effect that mythologized Richard’s tragic downfall through the story of Atalanta stooping to retrieve Hippomene’s apples, creating “a pictorial analogue of Bullingbrook’s ascendancy, an image of victory through flight from a diverted opponent. Atalanta stoops just as Richard, the glistering phaeton, descends.” 87 Richard appeared like a spoiled child, jealously guarding his favorite “toys,” the orb, scepter and crown, which he kept in his “toy-box” and that would later be carried into Westminster Hall. Michael Billington of the
Guardian
commented on “a highly exciting performance from Anton Lesser” who played Bullingbrook:
Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike, like certain modern politicians, Mr Lesser’s Bullingbrook exhibits a wonderful mixtureof power-hunger and residual guilt: the classic moment comes with Richard’s ironic offer of “Here, cousin, seize the crown” when Mr Lesser instinctively backs off as if the diadem itself were charged with electricity. 88
Jennings was praised as “a commanding presence throughout,” but some thought “the fascist/Stalinist touch in the production is a touch over-done” with “every character, save Richard, dressed in black.” 89
Steven Pimlott (2000)
Steven Pimlott’s production of
Richard II
in the intimate studio space of The Other Place was the first in the RSC’s two-year project “This England: The Histories,” a “cycle” of all eight plays in chronological order for which “there would be no attempt to impose a single directorial or design concept.” 90 Puzzled by the decision to choose different directors, designers, and venues, one critic asked: “Why stage a cycle if you plan an anti-cyclical style?” 91 Another provided an answer: “This variety is in deference to the stylistic contrasts of the plays, but you can also see the fragmentation as a response to the devolving nature of Britain, and the evolving character of its monarchy.” 92
Pimlott’s approach, it was suggested, “dramatically opened up
Richard II
to the present moment, and opened up the present moment to the play.” 93 The permanent white-box set designed by Sue Willmington, with environment designed by David Fielding, released the actors to tell the story “in what
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