I've always been a fan of Kevin Spacey, and the minute I discovered that he would be performing in Shakespeare's Richard III at the Old Vic Theater during our stay in London, I ordered tickets for us to attend. I was so glad I did, because it turned out to be one of the hottest plays in London this summer and was completely sold out by the time we got there.
As our tickets were for the Thursday night, August 11 production, we checked into the Kensington Hotel on our return to London from Edinburgh, and got freshened up for an evening at the theater. The Old Vic is located on the South Bank of the river, two blocks from Waterloo Station and the nearby Waterloo campus of Kings College, which houses the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery and parts of the Schools of Bio medicine and Dentistry.
Allowing extra time for sight seeing along the way, we left early and caught the Tube to the Embankment so that we could cross the Waterloo Bridge to the South Bank on foot and take in a few more of the sights across the river before the play. By walking, we misjudged the distance to the Old Vic and got a bit disoriented as to our location. Several times, as we paused to study the map and figure out our next steps, a friendly passerby would stop and ask if we were lost and needed directions, assuring us that we were on the right course and would run into the Old Vic a little farther down the street. These friendly gestures of neighborliness were a welcome surprise and went a long way toward calming and reassuring our anxiety about being out and about in the wake of the riots. We finally located the Old Vic, picked up our tickets, and still had time to grab a bite to eat before the production.
The play was well worth the effort and one of the highlights of the trip. Kevin Spacey gives a convincing performance as Richard III, who seeks by any means to eliminate all of his contenders to the throne of England, including his two nephews and a brother, standing in his way. He is cast as a modern day dictator, akin to Muammar Gaddafi or Hosni Mubarak in his ruthless quest for power, and to the likes of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and North Korea's Kim Jong-il, in his paranoia and dysfunctional personality unleashed on their unfortunate subjects.
Spacey, the consummate villain, delivers his Shakespearean lines naturally and flawlessly, without British accent. For 3 hours and 15 minutes, he is all over the stage, posture deformed by the weight of the hump on his back, toting a crutch, and strapped into a leg brace supporting his withered, pronated foot. Through every inch of the performance, from the opening "Now is the winter of our discontent..." to the near closing lines in which he cries, "A horse, A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" he pours his energy into the role, as he connects with the audience and makes them co-conspirators of his nasty deeds and Machiavellian plots, revealing a multi faceted personality that is simultaneously evil, remorseful, cruel, charming, manic, and funny.
Spacey maintains this momentum to the end, when Richmond's forces have won the battle of Bosworth Field, Richard is dead, and we see his lifeless body suspended by its heels from a rope and dangling above the battlefield, while Richmond is proclaimed victor and King of England, ultimately reining as Henry VII. Spacey hangs there motionless for a full two minutes as the play draws to conclusion.
An interview with Kevin Spacey printed in the program, quotes him as saying that the play is "a physically and emotionally demanding role, one that requires dexterity with language, and commitment to giving 150%. That's why I've stopped drinking, smoking, everything, to dedicate myself to this character." No wonder!
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