Richard III at Trafalgar Studios
Jamie Lloyd’s production of Shakespeare’s RICHARD III at the Trafalgar Studios Transformed with Martin Freeman in the leading role is very entertaining. There was an actual plot by parts of the Tory Establishment to get rid of the democratically elected Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson who was being undermined by CIA propaganda and it is into this potential dystopia that Jamie Lloyd has set his production. Jamie Lloyd has created a real assault on our senses that places the drama in the actual “winter of discontent” of 70’s Britain.
The drama is incredibly graphic including spurting blood from a severed jugular artery pumping all over the audience in the front row where I happened to be sitting. The audience was full of young people who were clearly enjoying the play. Jamie Lloyd has a real talent in making the play very accessible. He has assembled a stellar cast and given them the tools of great costume and design to really bring the characters and the action alive. I felt like I was watching a live recording of a tv show.
Martin Freeman gives an excellent performance as Richard III. He is completely believable and his performance is totally contained within the confines of this very realistic presentation. There is none of the “camp” associated with this role and plenty of understated psychotic menace. The worst leaders are the most charming in public and the most nasty in private.
