Edinburgh Fringe 2024
After Shakespeare – Richard III
Slade Wolfe Enterprises Limited
Genre: Historical, Theatre
Venue: theSpace Triplex
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Two actors narrate events as they unfold from Richard as a pre-teen through to the night before his fateful battle at Bosworth. This is an intriguing piece of theatre that challenges the commonly held belief of Richard III as a ruthless villain. Historically accurate and cleverly set and staged, it suggests that maybe the time has come to look at this part of history in a different light.
Review
It’s 1464 and the young Richard is at Middleham Castle, home to his uncle, Richard Nevile, the so-called “Kingmaker” in this, the first of ten carefully curated scenes in another of Slade Wolfe Enterprises’ impeccably researched and inventively presented takes on what perhaps happened to some of Shakespeare’s best-loved heroes and most reviled villains after the curtain falls.
Previous forays into this space have featured a number of characters in a single show. However, with Richard III being perceived as one of the Bard’s vilest villains, (and not having a lot of support from other historians in the half millennium since he fell at Bosworth), we’re treated to an intriguing piece of theatre devoted exclusively to examining whether this reputation is entirely justified.
Political maneuvering in 15th century England makes the 21st century equivalent look like a vicar’s tea party, such was its complex and ruthless nature. So it helps that this tale unfolds in chronological sequence, each scene using adroit signposting narration within the dialogue, handily augmented by the descriptive flyer handed to each of the audience as they entered. This ensures that we all keep up with the constant comings and goings as the House of York struggles to hold itself together in the face of deadly internal rivalries and challenges to, and changes of, leadership. Sounds worryingly familiar, doth it not?
Fitting this into a Fringe sized production that did justice to the events (or at least what is commonly accepted took place) and that didn’t lose the audience was a tall order, but Lexi Wolfe’s thoroughly researched and historically accurate script just about does it. And the dialogue, for the most part focused and serious as befits the issues being examined, contains just the right amount of quips, barbed insults and dry comedic asides to keep the audience on point.
The acting helps too. Adam Phelan, as Richard III, has a commanding stage presence, his mellifluous voice bringing power and expression to his delivery and his characterisation succeeding in the challenge of playing Richard from a pre-teen through to a mature man preparing to enter the fateful field at Bosworth.
Lexi Wolfe was left to play the rest of the cast as the counterpoint to Richard, a diverse range of characters including Anne Neville (a love interest), Richard’s two brothers, a couple of kings, Elizabeth Woodville and, finally, Richard’s mother. Costumes helped to differentiate here, as did her use of voice, mannerisms and accents.
There’s been a lot of attention to detail in terms of the staging too. Renaissance music and creative use of lighting creates an ethereal atmosphere on the sparsely set and quite tight stage at theSpace Triplex’s small subterranean venue where the two actors ensure that every inch of it is deployed with effect. And an interesting variety of props augments each scene.
This is an intriguing piece of theatre, challenging the commonly held belief of Richard III as a ruthless villain. Phelan’s portrayal reflects the emerging view that Richard was a more nuanced, thoughtful and caring individual, one with an eye to the needs of his subjects, rather than a desire to cling to power at all costs. Shakespeare’s play, naturally, reflected the version of events circulating in the century following events at Bosworth. But this was influenced by Tudor loyalists in whose interests it was to portray the fallen monarch as the villain of the piece as they sought to write a history more favourable to their own ends.
You might appreciate this piece more with either a knowledge of Shakespeare’s seminal play or a keen interest in Tudor history. Or both. But it stands on its own as a piece of theatre so comes with a firm recommendation.
