Mark Rylance ran Shakespeare’s Globe from 1995 to 2005 – and now returns there to play that neurotic tyrant and murderous political mastermind, Richard III.
Inevitably it’s his performance that defines Tim Carroll’s production. From the moment he first appears, announcing that he is ‘determined to prove a villain’, he captivates us. His relationship with the audience is confidently engaging, with some puckish touches, but his darting eyes and nervy pauses suggest the malign menace that lies beneath his playfulness.
This Richard is not as grossly deformed as many others have been. Yet with a false arm and a little withered hand, he’s the embodiment of broken kingship, squirming across the stage though still able to caper and jab when it suits him.
Rylance’s is a protean interpretation, in which we see Richard as a crafty manipulator, an impish schoolboy and an isolated oddball. Sometimes he is darkly brutal, sometimes apologetic and almost reasonable. He switches unnervingly from enigmatic aloofness to lurching passion.
What’s missing is an air of real danger. This Richard rarely feels chillingly cruel. Rylance doesn’t bring to the role the disturbed energy of – to choose a recent example – Kevin Spacey. But his final disintegration is skilfully achieved, and he perfectly conveys the character’s use of humour as a weapon. Now and then the lines cascade from his mouth, as if his eloquence is something he can barely control. At other points he’s shaky and halting, aware of his vulnerability.
Carroll’s production, which has cut a fair amount of the text, is lucid. Yet in places it seems a bit flat and underpowered. It’s an ‘original practices’ staging, of the kind Rylance has long favoured. So Samuel Barnett is a controlled Queen Elizabeth and Johnny Flynn is the widowed Lady Anne Neville. Elsewhere there’s good work from James Garnon and Liam Brennan, though Roger Lloyd Pack’s vulpine Buckingham doesn’t quite convince as a ‘princely’ kingmaker.
Ultimately, the main pleasure is seeing Rylance back at the Globe. Credit to current artistic director Dominic Dromgoole for his return. This is a Richard III that will vex more than a few purists, but it’s a crowdpleaser - and should be richer and more potent by the time it moves to the West End in November.
Richard III runs until October 13 (020 7401 9919).
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