And so it begins:R2
Thursday evening, and a flying start to the Histories cycle. There was a palpable buzz at the Courtyard Theatre even before the play started, with people milling about, live music in the circle bar, and all sorts of accents being heard as people gathered for the first performance of the cycle. Ah, a whole theatre full of likeminded people, I felt right at home.
It was nice to start off this massive Histories marathon gently with just the one play this evening, R2, a production that I’d already seen and enjoyed tremendously, so I pretty much knew what to expect. It’s always interesting to return for a second viewing of really good productions, as that gives you a chance to take a closer look at the things that might have slipped under your radar the first time, and this was no exception. (beware spoilers coming up)
The opening sequence, where R2 and his courtiers make their entrance, and the body of the murdered Duke of Gloucester is suddenly revealed in their midst and right in R2’s path, makes an even stronger impression this time round, where R2 unflinchingly steps over the body on his way to ascend his throne. No dialogue needed here, but what an image it is, and how it speaks volumes about what it takes to just hang on to a throne. Wonderfully staged, and a very clever addition to the play. I was thinking to myself, how many dead Gloucesters will we see before this cycle is over? At least three that I can recall, wonder if I forgot any.
R2 is a play that starts very much in medias res, so much so that you’d be forgiven for thinking that you must have missed the beginning of it somehow, as events that are referred to throughout the play have taken place prior to the start of it. The programme for this production goes a long way to explain why that is, as there was already a well known play called “Thomas of Woodstock” (the actual name of the Duke of Gloucester), which Shakespeare’s play is more or less a sequel to.
But back to the production at hand. As the first scene played out dead Gloucester remained, hovering as an unseen ghost, watching and witnessing as events unfolded in the aftermath of his murder, glaring at Mowbray as he was accused of the deed. During the whole exchange, Jonathan Slinger’s R2 looked very uneasy, even more so when he couldn’t head off the confrontation between the two, making it quite clear that the king did indeed have a hand in this and didn’t want that to become widely known.
The Histories ensemble consists of more than thirty actors, which means that less doubling than usual occurs here, and it seems to be done with a clear idea of who doubles what, and I’ll be interested to see if it carries on through all eight plays. Here we got Chuck Iwuji playing not just the ghost of murdered Gloucester, but also the various messengers that bear bad news throughout that play, sometimes with a hint of an edge when delivering the most crushingly bad news to R2 himself. This provided a bit of delicious irony, as well as an indication that what befalls R2 has its roots in what he had done to Gloucester. Very nicely done.
Ghostly presences did seem to abound, not only Gloucester who returned again, but Gaunt’s ghost also popped up in the background later in the play, though the reason for that one eluded me, and when Queen Isobel was exiting after her final farewell to R2, the ghost of the Duchess of Gloucester suddenly walked behind her. An indication that her loyalty to R2 is as strong as that of the Duchess’ to her Duke of Gloucester?
The early scenes of R2’s court are a delight, with R2 presiding over a largely Elizabethan court, where R2 is very clearly Elizabeth, and where courtiers are frivolous and effeminate, none more so than the king himself. It’s a wonderful portrait of a king that’s revelling in his divine right, doing what he pleases as the whim takes him, a somehow childlike tyrant in his soon to be revealed petty jealousy at the thought that his cousin Bolingbroke might have become more popular with the masses than he. Slinger is just perfect as the haughty and at the same time somewhat absurd monarch, making every change in R2’s mood, from a man certain of his divine right and his place in the world, through uncertainty and anger, into an unexpectedly dignified acceptance of his fate, entirely believable and absolutely compelling to watch.
His performance wasn’t the only one that stood out, I actually got shivers down my spine as Roger Watkins delivered the “this England” speech, and Richard Cordery’s York stands out as that of an honest man in a world in flux, trying to maintain his integrity while doing the right thing. Clive Wood’s Bolingbroke has grown further on me, and I’m really, really looking forward to see where he takes his H4 in the next two plays after seeing him exit with heavy steps at the end of this play, after presiding over what seemed like a large scale purge of dissenters/rebels. Another characterisation that looks promising for 1H4 is Hotspur, played by Lex Shrapnel, and if I wondered about that name I didn’t have to wonder long, as I noticed John Shrapnel sitting just a couple of seats away from me. Well, talent obviously runs in the family. If I’m to criticize anything, it has to be the curious lack of chemistry between R2 and Queen Isobel as they say goodbye for the last time, the kisses seemed distinctly more platonic than passionate, but perhaps that was what was intended.
Bagot has been given a larger part here than is actually in the play, and instead of having the totally minor character Exton murder R2, it’s now Bagot, R2’s old friend, who does the deed. I know that I mentioned this in the review that I posted on the discussion board back in January, but it bears repeating. As Exton is named in the text as the murderer, this isn’t simply about just changing the staging, the actual name is changed in that line into Bagot. I don’t usually like tampering with the text, but it works here, as it further emphasises that we’ve now moved from the old days, where undying loyalty was a given, and monarchs divinely appointed, into a state of flux, where power is fluid and fleeting, where everyone could be made to turn against everyone, just like Bagot is here made to commit the ultimate betrayal of his old master. A brilliant and effective way to show how things have totally changed in the new order of things, and that you can no longer be certain of anything or anyone.
At the end of the play, as the cast made their bows, they were suddenly showered with daffodils from several directions. I’m not sure of the significance of that, but I got the impression that the flowers came from the various people working at the theatre, but perhaps I got that wrong. When I saw this the first time I almost ran out of superlatives, and I’m normally hard to impress, usually finding faults in most productions, but that first impression held up on this second viewing. Magnificent. Amazing. Breathtaking.
The evening ended with a quiet drink at the Duck, where coffee of course turned out to be unavailable at that time of night, and where I chatted away about an hour, oh well, sleep, who needs it, eh? I’ll have the benefit of seeing these productions from a few different vantage points, as I’ve got different seats for several of them, moving down into the stalls for 1H4 and 2H4, and then for H5 returning to the same seat in the circle that I had for R2. We’re off to a spectacular start, and from now on it’ll be all new impressions, as I haven’t seen the other seven productions before. I just hope the other ones are anywhere nears as good as R2, but I’ll soon find out.
//Jenny
