Punk spirit underpinned by darkness and horror: Richard III at the Sam Wanamaker Theatre reviewed

The history plays are different. In dramas like Othello, Hamlet and Much Ado, Shakespeare laid out the plot with great clarity because the stories were new, or newish, to his audiences. But Richard III belonged to the recent past. The wonky monarch’s death predated the play’s debut by just over a century, so Richard’s era stood at the same distance from the Elizabethans as we stand from the Edwardian age. However, few modern playgoers know the dynastic complexities that drive the storyline so it’s worth mugging up in advance.

This modern-dress production (co-directed by Sean Holmes and Ilinca Radulian) has been cast without regard to race, gender or age. Anyone who doesn’t hold a professorship in Plantagenet genealogy will struggle to comprehend the sinuous plot. Richard (Sophie Russell) enters wearing a white footballer’s shirt inscribed RICHARD 03. Clear enough. Margaret, played by a man, also appears with her name embroidered on her football kit but with the letters covered by a coat. An easy blunder to correct. Harder to fix is the sparse company which isn’t populous enough to serve the text. Matti Houghton plays Anne and two other largeish roles. Colin Hurley begins as Hastings and morphs into Tyrrell, the Mayor and Oxford. Steffan Donnelly opens as Margaret and ends as Richmond.

Though aimed at academics, the show includes novelties that will intrigue anyone. Richard, played by Sophie Russell, has no visible deformity. The suggestion is that the scheming royal has dreamed up his misshapen physique in order to justify his villainy. You can bet that Russell was relieved to be spared the business of hopping and limping around the stage in imitation of some gross birth defect. According to theatre lore, performers apeing Richard’s disability quite often nobble themselves during rehearsal and end up genuinely injured.