The Bridge Project’s Richard III, by William Shakespeare, with Kevin Spacey, at BAM, by Michael Miller


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Kevin Spacey as Richard III at the Brooklyn Academy of Music - Harvey Theater. Photo Joan Marcus.

Richard III
by William Shakespeare

The Bridge Project at BAM, through March 4
Produced by BAM, The Old Vic & Neal Street

Directed by Sam Mendes
Scenery by Tom Piper
Costumes by Catherine Zuber
Lighting by Paul Pyant
Projection by Jon Driscoll

Cast:

Maureen Anderman* - Duchess of York
Stephen Lee Anderson* - Sir Richard Ratcliffe
Jeremy Bobb* - Catesby & 2nd Murderer & 2nd Citizen
Nathan Darrow* - Lord Grey & Richmond
Jack Ellis - Lord Hastings
Haydn Gwynne - Queen Elizabeth
Chuk Iwuji - Buckingham
Isaiah Johnson* - Rivers & Lord Mayor
Gemma Jones - Queen Margaret
Andrew Long* - King Edward IV & Bishop of Ely
Katherine Manners - Young Prince Richard
Howard Overshown* - Brackenbury & Keeper & Sir Thomas Vaughan
Simon Lee Phillips - Tyrell & 3rd Citizen & Norfolk
Gary Powell - Lord Lovel & 1st Murderer & 1st Citizen
Michael Rudko* - Lord Stanley
Annabel Scholey - Lady Anne
Kevin Spacey* - Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Gavin Stenhouse - Dorset & Urswick
Hannah Stokely - Edward
Chandler Williams* - George, Duke of Clarence
*indicates American member of company

This production of Shakespeare’s Richard III has reached BAM after a sold-out run at the Old Vic and a tour which included Epidavros, Istanbul, Naples, Sydney, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, and San Francisco, among others. This reminded me of the sort of thing the British Council does, but of course this Shakespearian globe-trotting was a private enterprise, funded largely by Bank of America and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. And course the whole point of the production’s parent organization, The Bridge Project, was to combine British and American casts. Perhaps there should be an organization beyond the British Council to cultivate, study, and promote the global English language, as it used on the streets and in literature around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria, Guyana, and others. And the way English is behaving in the physical and cyber-world today, it may need some international body to encourage it in good manners, kicking it under the table, when it starts to monopolize the conversation.

Richard III is The Bridge Project’s last production, and I must say that I’m sorry it’s over. As I think back over it, the performances I saw seem better in retrospect than they did immediately after the performance. Along with stupendous performances by some great actors, Simon Russell Beale above all, there were some awkwardly directed scenes and some uneven work among even leading actors—mostly the Americans, I regret to say. Yet the end result, in spite of those annoyances, was surprisingly satisfying.

Read the full review
 in New York Arts