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RICHARD III
Swan Theatre Company
Compton Acres
Poole
July 2002

FIRST night gremlins meant that the Duke of Clarence was murdered, it seemed, by an invisible dagger and the prompt’s voice was heard rather more than it should have been, but the main problem for me in this production was in the character of Richard himself. He came over rather like a con man or dodgy car salesman, with his evil much diluted and nothing in particular in its place, and consequently Geoff Whipp, although a fine actor, appeared not to be entirely comfortable in the role.
The effect of this was to make those surrounding him much stronger characters, especially the Duke of Buckingham (an excellent Philip Redgrave), Lord Hastings (a fine Peter Watson) and the Earl of Richmond (an outstanding Chris Hope-King).
There were passionate, powerful performances too from Estelle Hughes (Queen Elizabeth), Tommy Egerton (Duchess of York) and Janet Chiesa (Queen Margaret).
Lin Denning’s imaginative direction – I particularly liked the pre-battle night-time sequence and the play-quoting citizens – moved the action swiftly along and made good use of the available space, but although her interpretation gave food for thought I remain unconvinced that it actually worked.
This production can also be seen at Canford School (15), Moyles Court (17) and Walford Mill (19 & 20).

Linda Kirkman
Courtesy of the Bournemouth Daily Echo
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