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julietObviously the correct chronological order is the other way around, but I saw them backwards; which was interesting! in that I noticed various things in Henry VI that they picked up again in Richard III, whereas I suppose it's supposed to be the other way around. (Also when Richard came on I thought "aw yay!" which I'm pretty sure is *not* supposed to be the response to seeing Shakespeare's Richard :D ) Henry VI normally comes in three parts; this was Parts II and III squashed together into 3h20, including two intervals.
Note: I don't think 'spoilers' is exactly a thing in this context, but if you were intending to watch either of these in the week or so before they close (WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND if you can), and you prefer not to read in advance about production choices, perhaps don't read these somewhat rambly observations.
I haven't seen anything in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse before, though I've been to the Globe proper. It's what they call a 'reimagining', rather than a reconstruction, of a 17th c playhouse, based on extant plans of the era, and using primarily authentic materials etc, but with some extra 21stC comfort (I gather there is, for example, heating). It is mostly candlelit (which is great! I loved the candles[0]), but they use a bit of extra electric lighting from behind the 'windows' at the rear of the Lower Gallery[1]. The benches are padded, but backless; only in the back row do you have a bit of wall to lean back against, and it's quite tight quarters generally. It's also small; which does give everything a very intimate feel. And (together with the actors' excellent diction) makes for being able to hear everything clearly and continue to feel very engaged with what's going on, even when an actor has their back to the audience, so the staging can be a bit freer. There's a musician's gallery up behind the stage which I also really liked.
Henry VI starts off with a lot of random nobility named after counties[3] who are, at least as far as I was concerned, somewhat difficult to distinguish from one another. I really liked the way they dealt with this: during the first couple of scenes, people who weren't in the scene were still grouped at the back, like a portrait or tableau, and the people who were in the scene could physically gesture at whoever it was they were complaining about. Later, in the battle scenes in the 3rd section, they dealt with a similar problem by having the whole cast change, on-stage, into red or white football strips with their names on (and numbers, appropriate ones where available e.g. RICHARD 03); which also came in handy for displaying Warwick and Clarence's changes of allegiance as they put on DIY red shirts. (My one criticism, btw, of the way this play was cut down was that Clarence's betrayal and then return to the fold went by very very fast and without any explanation of either of them.)
The football strips also explained why Richard shows up at the start of Richard III in his muddy, bloodied (from having just ripped Henry's throat out with his teeth), football strip[4], while everyone else was in suitably fancy regalia. Even without having seen Henry VI first, though, it was still a very effective choice in terms of making him stand out from the start. I also noted that in the second part, when there's a certain amount of murder going on but it's happening offstage, Richard was the only one who wound up with blood streaked down the front of his nice white shirt.
Richard was played by Sophie Russell, who was absolutely cracking. As you may be aware, there are a LOT of murders in Richard III. (And quite a few in Henry VI.) They're done, in Richard III, at Richard's bidding but largely not by him; but here, Richard came back onstage every time, in a variety of white suits (occasionally with rhinestones, or funny hats), to sing assorted versions of "For The Good Times" as his enemies expired. It was, of course, absurd, and in one sense absolutely undercut the murders; but at the same time as we were all cackling it was also creepy as hell. The other bit of business I liked for the murders was Ratcliffe, who wandered around the stage with his black bag of Unpleasant Tools, and carefully took out a LED spotlight and set it up at the front of the stage before every one. Russell did a fantastic job of Richard's journey through the two plays from laddish duke's son swaggering around with a chainsaw surrounded by his brothers, through stone-cold psychopath, to losing his grip altogether in the final scenes.
The playhouse has a lovely marble floor, which half of the time was covered up by lots of plastic sheeting in order for them to pile earth across it / murder people all over it. Similarly the chipboard stapled across the back wall for people to graffiti YORK and H6 over. I noticed the use of earth in Henry VI more, I think, than I would have had I seen them the other way around: the first use of it is a handful thrown across the stage when France is lost; then more when York is killed and Margaret is 'crowning' him with it; then a huge pile of the stuff in part 3 of Henry VI and the first half of Richard III. (In which, of course, in addition to the symbolic value, several people are suffocated. Honestly, there are just a lot of murders in these plays.)
Russell wasn't the only cross-gender casting. Edward IV was played by Sarah Amankwah, and Steffan Donnelly was fantastic as Margaret, especially when coming back to curse everyone in Richard III, which was properly spine-chilling. In Henry VI the fact that in heels she was a good 6" taller than most of the rest of the cast was quite effective, too. Given that it's a small ensemble, there was a lot of multiple casting (Donnelly also played Richmond, for example); which in Richard III worked really well at the end as Richard, awoken from his nightmare, saw his murdered enemies (blood and all) in the person of what were now his supporters.
It was all wholly compelling and I am seriously considering whether I can get back before it closes to see Richard III again, almost entirely for Russell's performance. If anyone reading this hasn't seen it and is inclined to beat me to one of the last tickets, I actively encourage that! (The very last performance on the 26th is captioned and still has a fair few seats left.)
[0] At one point in Henry VI, Margaret stepped backwards and swung a very-flammable-looking skirt right into a candelabra on the floor, to a horrified intake of breath from half the audience. The actor looked around, looked a bit perturbed himself, and shuffled sideways a foot. Evidently it's not quite as flammable as it looked as no actual flames ensued.
[1] At the start of the second part of Henry VI, Henry and Margaret are hiding from Cade and his rebels[2] outside, with only a few candles lit onstage. All the shutters behind us were slowly closed, and people were banging on them from outside and shouting, and it was dark, and it was properly scary. Then Somerset's head in a plastic bag was thrown down onto the stage from the upper gallery and we all jumped out of our skins.
[2] I think we are not supposed to be sympathetic to Cade & Co, but honestly I was pretty much on their side.
[3] yes, yes, I know.
[4] I feel sympathy for the wardrobe staff who presumably have to get everything lovely and shiny again afterwards every time, and goodness knows nearly everyone gets up to their eyebrows in blood and/or mud at some point.
Note: I don't think 'spoilers' is exactly a thing in this context, but if you were intending to watch either of these in the week or so before they close (WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND if you can), and you prefer not to read in advance about production choices, perhaps don't read these somewhat rambly observations.
I haven't seen anything in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse before, though I've been to the Globe proper. It's what they call a 'reimagining', rather than a reconstruction, of a 17th c playhouse, based on extant plans of the era, and using primarily authentic materials etc, but with some extra 21stC comfort (I gather there is, for example, heating). It is mostly candlelit (which is great! I loved the candles[0]), but they use a bit of extra electric lighting from behind the 'windows' at the rear of the Lower Gallery[1]. The benches are padded, but backless; only in the back row do you have a bit of wall to lean back against, and it's quite tight quarters generally. It's also small; which does give everything a very intimate feel. And (together with the actors' excellent diction) makes for being able to hear everything clearly and continue to feel very engaged with what's going on, even when an actor has their back to the audience, so the staging can be a bit freer. There's a musician's gallery up behind the stage which I also really liked.
Henry VI starts off with a lot of random nobility named after counties[3] who are, at least as far as I was concerned, somewhat difficult to distinguish from one another. I really liked the way they dealt with this: during the first couple of scenes, people who weren't in the scene were still grouped at the back, like a portrait or tableau, and the people who were in the scene could physically gesture at whoever it was they were complaining about. Later, in the battle scenes in the 3rd section, they dealt with a similar problem by having the whole cast change, on-stage, into red or white football strips with their names on (and numbers, appropriate ones where available e.g. RICHARD 03); which also came in handy for displaying Warwick and Clarence's changes of allegiance as they put on DIY red shirts. (My one criticism, btw, of the way this play was cut down was that Clarence's betrayal and then return to the fold went by very very fast and without any explanation of either of them.)
The football strips also explained why Richard shows up at the start of Richard III in his muddy, bloodied (from having just ripped Henry's throat out with his teeth), football strip[4], while everyone else was in suitably fancy regalia. Even without having seen Henry VI first, though, it was still a very effective choice in terms of making him stand out from the start. I also noted that in the second part, when there's a certain amount of murder going on but it's happening offstage, Richard was the only one who wound up with blood streaked down the front of his nice white shirt.
Richard was played by Sophie Russell, who was absolutely cracking. As you may be aware, there are a LOT of murders in Richard III. (And quite a few in Henry VI.) They're done, in Richard III, at Richard's bidding but largely not by him; but here, Richard came back onstage every time, in a variety of white suits (occasionally with rhinestones, or funny hats), to sing assorted versions of "For The Good Times" as his enemies expired. It was, of course, absurd, and in one sense absolutely undercut the murders; but at the same time as we were all cackling it was also creepy as hell. The other bit of business I liked for the murders was Ratcliffe, who wandered around the stage with his black bag of Unpleasant Tools, and carefully took out a LED spotlight and set it up at the front of the stage before every one. Russell did a fantastic job of Richard's journey through the two plays from laddish duke's son swaggering around with a chainsaw surrounded by his brothers, through stone-cold psychopath, to losing his grip altogether in the final scenes.
The playhouse has a lovely marble floor, which half of the time was covered up by lots of plastic sheeting in order for them to pile earth across it / murder people all over it. Similarly the chipboard stapled across the back wall for people to graffiti YORK and H6 over. I noticed the use of earth in Henry VI more, I think, than I would have had I seen them the other way around: the first use of it is a handful thrown across the stage when France is lost; then more when York is killed and Margaret is 'crowning' him with it; then a huge pile of the stuff in part 3 of Henry VI and the first half of Richard III. (In which, of course, in addition to the symbolic value, several people are suffocated. Honestly, there are just a lot of murders in these plays.)
Russell wasn't the only cross-gender casting. Edward IV was played by Sarah Amankwah, and Steffan Donnelly was fantastic as Margaret, especially when coming back to curse everyone in Richard III, which was properly spine-chilling. In Henry VI the fact that in heels she was a good 6" taller than most of the rest of the cast was quite effective, too. Given that it's a small ensemble, there was a lot of multiple casting (Donnelly also played Richmond, for example); which in Richard III worked really well at the end as Richard, awoken from his nightmare, saw his murdered enemies (blood and all) in the person of what were now his supporters.
It was all wholly compelling and I am seriously considering whether I can get back before it closes to see Richard III again, almost entirely for Russell's performance. If anyone reading this hasn't seen it and is inclined to beat me to one of the last tickets, I actively encourage that! (The very last performance on the 26th is captioned and still has a fair few seats left.)
[0] At one point in Henry VI, Margaret stepped backwards and swung a very-flammable-looking skirt right into a candelabra on the floor, to a horrified intake of breath from half the audience. The actor looked around, looked a bit perturbed himself, and shuffled sideways a foot. Evidently it's not quite as flammable as it looked as no actual flames ensued.
[1] At the start of the second part of Henry VI, Henry and Margaret are hiding from Cade and his rebels[2] outside, with only a few candles lit onstage. All the shutters behind us were slowly closed, and people were banging on them from outside and shouting, and it was dark, and it was properly scary. Then Somerset's head in a plastic bag was thrown down onto the stage from the upper gallery and we all jumped out of our skins.
[2] I think we are not supposed to be sympathetic to Cade & Co, but honestly I was pretty much on their side.
[3] yes, yes, I know.
[4] I feel sympathy for the wardrobe staff who presumably have to get everything lovely and shiny again afterwards every time, and goodness knows nearly everyone gets up to their eyebrows in blood and/or mud at some point.
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