Richard II

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Play Opened 4 October 2005, Closed 26 November 2005

Old Vic Theatre The Cut, Waterloo, London

"Trevor Nunn directs with a sweeping confidence and virtuosic flourishes" The Daily Telegraph

Richard II, believing he's King by divine right, is confronted by rebellion. He becomes isolated, with a shrinking band of supporters, and detached from the country and its people. Shakespeare's play questions the meaning of 'monarchy' if a divinely appointed sovereign can be pushed aside, and a man with no such claim replaces him in power.

"Electric... Kevin Spacey confirms his Shakespearean credentials" The Guardian

Kevin Spacey makes his UK Shakespearean debut in the title role of 'Richard II' - a King coming to terms with a life stripped of authority. This modern dress/ contemporary production is directed by the award-winning director Trevor Nunn. Although he has directed 30 of Shakespeare's 37 plays, this is the first time he has directed this Shakespeare play.

"The whole view of the play is clever and insightful" The Financial Times

"At last, after a dismal start to his reign as artistic director of the Old Vic, Kevin Spacey proves himself worthy of his crown. His Richard II, his first stab at Shakespeare, powerfully directed by Trevor Nunn, is a return to grace and greatness... Nunn has brought the play thrillingly bang up-to-date - Spacey's is a high-tech highness, whose aide receives the news that his uncle, old John of Gaunt, is sick, via a text message... While Spacey dominates the stage, there are some superb supporting performances from Julian Glover and Peter Eyre... Best of all is Ben Miles's Bolingbroke." The Mail on Sunday

"Kevin Spacey's Richard has charisma, majesty and strength of will... strong performances from everyone" The Times

"Kevin Spacey is back on scintillating form, and so is director Trevor Nunn... This modern-dress staging of Shakespeare's historical drama emerges as the crowning glory of the US actor-manager's Old Vic regime... This fluid production is not only a study in power politics, but also a cynical look at manipulative public relations and at individuals and state institutions operating under surveillance... Spacey's English accent slips badly, but otherwise he puts in a riveting performance: balanced between arrogance and insecurity with subtle hints of camp, yet also with a really terrifying temper and great authority. A rare angle on Richard." The Independent on Sunday

"Outstanding support from Ben Miles, Juilian Glover, Oliver Cotton and Peter Eyre" The Daily Mail

"This is a production which ignites the Old Vic in the way that no production has done since Kevin Spacey took over, in which, in Nunn-style, every nook and crevice in the action is filled with revealing detail and whispers, and in which Spacey himself is often commanding. Nevertheless, it has limits. Spacey is a king who goes from smirk to tantrum... All of it makes sense; none of it is moving, for the lyricism of this most lyrical of Shakespeare's plays has been banished. 'My grief is all within,' he says: well, you have to believe him, because it's certainly not visible on the outside. It's elsewhere that the effects of a divided country are vividly realised. Ben Miles is a whip-sharp, utterly credible Bolingbroke; Julian Glover an impassioned, waning John of Gaunt. Peter Eyre's distracted, droll Duke of York." The Observer

"Kevin Spacey comes close to hitting the jackpot with a Richard who is commanding and charismatic, but far from regal, a man given to intemperate rages, bitchy asides, mocking sighs. He might hang out with his courtiers at a bass-heavy nightclub, but, dangerously, he can switch from one of the guys to steely monarch in a heartbeat... Spacey is still not an easy actor to love, yet, here, the shadow of self-regard that sometimes clouds his performances is perfect shading for this flawed and fragile king. It’s a canny choice of role — complex, ambiguous and ultimately touched with grace." The Sunday Times

Trevor Nunn on the play: "For Richard II you need an actor who is capable of flamboyant roleplaying, of expressing every kind of mood and indulgence. But he also has to be interested in a character's interior life, because by the end of the play that's all that Richard is left with. Kevin Spacey has shown that he can deliver fantastic pizzazz, but his greatest strength lies in his ability to strip away a character's layers, to show what's really going on underneath. Despite his film stardom he's a genuine stage actor. The play asks a large number of vital questions about our country, our history, our traditions and institutions. It was politically dangerous when Shakespeare wrote it because, as far as Queen Elizabeth was concerned, everything about the succession was speculative and unresolved. People were asking questions about the future of the monarchy, and what would happen if rebellion took place in the country. After Elizabeth's death, the play went unperformed for a very long time. But it came back into favour in the last century; during the 1936 abdication crisis for example it seemed to have a disturbing relevance. We live in a questioning age, at a time when everything about our institutions is being seriously challenged. There's the issue of the monarchy and the republican debate. There are arguments about our parliamentary system: is it any longer valid, or just a kind of circus, a medieval showcase? People also question our fancy-dress legal system, and whether trial by jury is viable. These are all issues which lend Shakespeare's play an unexpected relevance."