Stream: Richard II

I thought I had experienced definitive performances by David Tennant in the RSC’s production in 2016 as well as the breakthrough performance by Ben Wishaw in ‘The Hollow Crown’ in 2013.  Somehow, I had missed this blinding made-for-TV version featuring the magnificent Fiona Shaw as the King. Deborah Warner’s staging stirred up a significant critical controversy when it was presented in 1995 at the National Theatre, and then later in Salzburg and Paris. However with weak leadership and warring factions in Westminster at the moment this could not be more apt. Filmed in a sparse studio with the cast doubling in several roles, all delivering the nuances of the text with perfect diction, Deborah Warner delivers a play for our time. It blew me away.

I must confess I am a big fan of the History plays. No-one does it better than the Bard to throw a light on the corridors of power and sovereignty. All this with the greatest speeches in English containing phrases some of which have now become our common parlance. Much quoted by politicians when they struggle to find inspiration. Donald Trump take note: ‘We were not born to sue but to command’.

Fiona Shaw brings the ambivalence and vanity of Richard sharply to the fore, only at the end realising “I wasted time, and now doth time waste me” as she contemplates her brutal imprisonment and death. Her casting is an act of genius, avoiding the foppish prancing of a male actor. Bolingbroke admirably played by Richard Bremner’ seethes with ambition to dethrone his former beloved king whom he passionately kisses. Of course, the scene stealer is old John of Gaunt, played by Grahame Crowden, who gets to say the immortal ‘Sceptred Isle’ speech on his deathbed.

Deborah Warner has collaborated with Fiona Shaw many times and she has a knack of taking a well-known work and showing us more depth that you ever imagined. What a treat, and an inspiration to show this production during these troubled times!