David Tenant in Richard the third

I don’t know the play very well or at all really. The only reason I went to see this was because David Tenant was in it but I did enjoy it.

David Tenant was brilliant as the arrogant King Richard. After all that was what his doctor was all about. He does arrogant and spoilt really well.

All the actors were really good. It was funnier than I thought it would be. Considering the opening scene had a coffin and a grieving widow.

The second half was better than the first. But that’s probably because it took me a little while to get into it. I didn’t know what it was about. I had a very busy week leading up to it so I didn’t research it. I think that was a good position to see it because it was a nice surprise.

My favorite scene was Richard being forced to resign his crown. David Tenant was so funny at being infuriating. If you were in that situation you’d just want to strangle him. And the other actors worked off him very well. You could see the frustration. They’d won and Richard shouldn’t be giving them any more trouble but he’s such a diva he can’t let this moment pass without being the center of attention.

The music was minimal and the three singers had phenomenal voices. I don’t usually appreciate that kind of singing where there aren’t really any words but maybe if I heard it live then I’d be more amazed at the technical skill involved.

They did a lot with very little set. Just changing colours and moving a walkway around. It always amazes me what theaters do with so little. They are able to completely change the mood.

The only criticism I have of it was that at the beginning I didn’t quite understand who everyone was. It took me and my friend looking through the program to understand who some of the characters were in relation to each other. They all kept calling each other cousin and some of the characters were hard to tell apart.

We went to see it in the Barbican centre in London.  Very modern building  and the theatre was quite small so we weren’t too far away from the stage. I like these little theaters.

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