Richard III

Of all the theatre performances I’ve been to for my Play Critique class, tonight’s was the one I was most excited about. After a wonderful Indian dinner at a little place near Waterloo, we headed to the Old Vic Theatre to see the production of Shakespeare’s Richard III starring Kevin Spacey and directed by Sam Mendes. I’ll admit I was a bit star-struck. I’ve been going on for days about how amazing Kevin Spacey is, so the opportunity to see a production firsthand promised to be incredible. And it was, well at least for the most part. We arrived on time and were promptly led to our seats, top balcony and as far to the stage as possible. In fact, we were so close to the edge of the stage (except many feet above) that we were seated almost directly behind a lighting scaffold. Though I was warned that our seats were not the best in the house, I had at least expected be able to see. Rather, we spent the first two hours craning our necks and teetering almost dangerously over the balcony railing to catch a glimpse of the action on stage. Richard III is one of Shakespeare’s most intense histories, depicting the story of the madman king who murdered his way to the throne. Kevin Spacey (at least from what we could see) dazzled in the role of the deformed and demented Richard. The performance itself took a modern turn, recalling the 1950s style of Sir Ian McKellan’s turn as the murderous monarch in the 1995 film. Aside from the awful seating arrangements, the only negative thing I can say about the play is the length. At three and a half hours, not even Kevin Spacey can keep things from dragging a bit.

Sophie and I at the Old Vic.

After the performance, Sophie and I headed to Covent Garden to meet up with our visitors form France (Lauren, Loren and Josh!) who are in town for the weekend. We had a quick drink before the pub closed and caught up on the last few weeks of our adventures. I think tomorrow we’re headed out to Hampton Court to see where King Henry VIII lived. Should be a good, but busy weekend :)