Review of Shakespeare's Richard III (directed by Thomas Ostermeier for the Festival d'Avignon) at the Opera Grand, Avignon, recorded 11 and 12 July and broadcast at 10:40 pm 13 July on arte Concert
When asked in an interview with Joseph Pearson why he had chosen to stage Richard III, Thomas Ostermeier was characteristically straightforward in his reply. It was, he explained, to showcase the talents of Lars Eidinger, the star performer of Ostermeier's Berlin based Schaubuhne theatre. "He's perfect for the role" he explained; "I like the idea of having a very charming Richard, with whom people can sympathize." This is not an uncommon reason for choosing this play. It has proved a popular platform for acting talent from its first appearance in the sixteenth century, through the era of the great actor managers, to the contemporary theatres of London, New York and continental Europe. However, it is unusual inmodern revivals to see somuch focus on the interiority of Richard. Translated into modern German prose by Marius vonMayerburg and pared back to just 60% of the original text, this adaptation excised much of the ritualistic patterning and sense of historical determinism to present a protagonist whowasmore akin toHamlet than to Shakespeare's Richard (whomShakespeare in turn inherited from John Rous, John Morton, Polydore Vergil, Thomas More, Richard Grafton, Edward Halle and Raphael Holinshed) The most memorable and critically lauded "celebrity" Richards of recent years have based their characterisation on his physical appearance, with bravura performances from Laurence Olivier, Antony Sher, Simon Russell Beale and, more recently, Kevin Spacey. Eidinger's Richard, on the other hand, brazenly displayed his deformity as a combination of meta theatrical signifiers which seemed to indicate a physical disability while simultaneously revealing it to be nothing more than a rhetorical, theatrical and historical construct. His arm, a "blasted sapling withered up" (3.4.69) was indicated merely by a plaster around the middle finger of his right hand. A cushion strapped to his back gestured towards his "bunch backed" form (1.3.244) while a black leather head band tied under his chin, his surgical boot on his right foot and train track braces across his top row of teeth suggested more generalised physical impairments. As he moved, his knees collapsed in towards one another and he hunched over, dragging his booted foot behind him. Yet these external signifiers of "deformity" were nothing more than that signifiers. It quickly became apparent that Eidinger's Richard was not defined by his physical appearance but by his complex and, at times, extremely affecting psychological make up. In this respect, unlike many Richards who had come before him, he undermined any simplistic attempt to establish a causal link between physical deformity and moral depravity. He was a Richard in whom his audience might see themselves reflected. In his interview with Pearson, Ostermeier said that he wanted his production to pose the following questions: "Have you never wanted to do what Richard is doing? Have you never wanted to commit morally reprehensible acts?" Originally opening in the Schaubuhne theatre, Berlin in February 2015, this production was one of the most hotly anticipated events of the sixty ninth Avignon Festival in July 2015, and it did not