Richard III with Ralph Fiennes
This was one of my absolute favorite shows I’ve seen.
Arguably one of William Shakespeare’s most famous history plays; Richard III uses the lens of the past to examine the timeless struggle of what it takes to achieve and keep a hold of power. Throughout the play the title character, Richard, is someone who—despite having royal lineage—sees himself at a disadvantage due to his physicality. Referring to himself as:
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them—
Richard is historically a character that audiences sympathize with, after all everyone loves an underdog! Richard blames his disadvantages on his physique and turns to Machiavellian tactics to “prove a villain” because his deformities prevent him from “prove[ing] a lover” (1.1.27-30).
His lust for power resonates with the audience and even though his goal is to win the crown at any cost, he is the Shakespearean character we love to hate.
Shakespeare’s Richard derives power from his words. He is a craftsman of speech and knows how to turn his sentences into spears, to convince, cajole, and manipulate his way to the throne. In an interaction with his brother Clarence in the first scene of the play Richard promises; “Well, your imprisonment shall not be long/ I will deliver or else lie for you” (1.1.114). This demonstrates perfectly the craftsmanship of Richard’s words. Here he is conveying to his brother that he will ‘deliver’ him from jail or else ‘lie’ on the chopping block in his place whilst actually meaning that he will ‘deliver’ Clarence to his maker and ‘lie’ in order to do so. This use of double entendre manipulates both Clarence and the audience. Clarence gets the impression that his brother is going to help him and the audience is left awe struck by Richard’s use of words.
I would argue that compared to the Richard that lives strictly on page, Ralph Fiennes’ Richard was a Richard that found power through his physicality when words failed him. Fiennes is a very powerful performer who knows how to take up space on stage. Smartly, he often found his way to the front of the boards causing his figure to tower in the foreground. This developed an intimate relationship with the audience because his proximity allowed for direct address. Having insight into his machinations and an up-close-and-personal view of his villainy gave Fiennes a power over the audience that can only be felt through staging.
It is because of this that Fiennes’ larger that life Richard stood in stark contrast to the simplistic design of Hildegard Bechtler (set) and Jon Morrell (costuming). The design was both minimalist and poignant and left room for Fiennes acting. A specific moment I found particularly striking was during the coronation scene when Fiennes came to the front of the stage to bow to receive his crown. In this moment he was costumed in a form fitting black long sleeved shirt that showed off the curve in his spine and height of his right shoulder. And even though this was one of the only moments in the show that he got to his knees he never looked larger.
This costuming choice harkened back to another powerful staging moment at the beginning of the play when—during the excavation process—one of the archeologist pulled Richard’s spinal column from the earth. The rest of the scene dissipated as Richard’s spine was turned in the archeologist’s hands. This showcasing of the spine’s curvature served a catalyst for the action and set the tone for the way that Fiennes would portray Richard. Fiennes’ Richard was not limited by his deformities, but rather empowered despite them.
An example of this can be found in the scene between Richard and Anne in which Richard is attempting to convince Anne to marry him. The text reads:
Is not the causer of the timeless deaths
Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?
Thou wast the cause and most accurs'd effect.
Your beauty was the cause of that effect
Your beauty that did haunt me in my sleep
To undertake the death of all the world
So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom.
Here, Richard is persuading Anne that it was her beauty that caused him to commit murder and that the blame should, in turn, be shared between them. When Richard’s waxing words don’t seem to persuade Anne, in this production, Fiennes got very physical with her. In response to her spitting in his face he grabbed at her body aggressively until he was finally able to plant a forceful kiss on her lips. When Anne (Joanna Vanderham) then walked through the voms touching her lips, one could see that she was affected by the kiss, despite Richard having killed her husband and assaulted her. When his words could not win her to his wedding bed he proved himself a ‘lover’ by forcibly overpowering her.
Later he results to using his similar physicality to overpower Queen Elizabeth. After Elizabeth discovered that he had killed her two young sons, Elizabeth stands up to Richard calling him out for the murders he has committed. Richard professes his desire to wed Elizabeth’s daughter, and vows that through wooing her daughter he would be negating the wrongs he had committed against her sons. Physically harkening back to his interaction with Anne earlier in the play, Fiennes’ cunning couldn’t outwit the wrath of a Queen Mother scorned. But this time his physical aggression accelerated, and with his line: “And be a happy mother by the deed” (4.4.427) Richard raped Elizabeth. Thus illustrating how acting/directing choices can turn a line on the page (that reads as a witty retort) into a graphic moment of power and violence. From this point on it is clear that Fiennes’ is not only willing to lie and murder, but he is now also willing to resort to rape when he cannot get his way with words.
Another design element that reinforced this idea of a villainous and unlikeable Richard was the use of skulls on the back wall of the stage. Each time that Richard aided in (either directly or indirectly) the death of another person a skull on the wall would be spotlighted. Making it impossible for the audience to forget the mountain of corpses upon which Richard’s throne rested upon.
All of the design and acting choices that comprised this version of Richard III ultimately made Fiennes’ Richard into a much more powerful villain in my mind. He was not a man who was misunderstood and judged because of his physique but instead a man who was willing to do anything to get what he wanted. Richard, even in the moments leading up to his death, seemed always to be the most powerful man on stage.
