Richard III

Richard III is one of Shakespeare's most notorious villains, and in this touring production from Headlong, directed by John Haidar, Tom Mothersdale's ‘bunch-back'd toad’ self-congratulates gleefully in asides to the audience as he violently tricks, lies and manipulates his way to power. The physical deformities adopted by Mothersdale do indeed render him spider-like, and also shorter than every other character he encounters so that, while he is menacing, his childlike weakness and desire for approval (whether that should manifest itself in love from women or love from the audience) is a constant undercurrent.

While I saw the production at the cavernous newly reopened theatre in Alexandra Palace, Chiara Stephenson's design will bring a real intensity at the smaller venues in the later part of its run. Two-way mirrors set in a horseshoe focus the beam of the action on a central point which is occupied throughout the first half by an ever-descending crown, found after the interval on Richard's head.