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1st Preview, 6th April - in the Interval Very
confusing. Three characters (the conspiracy scene at the news
of Bolingbroke’s return to our northern shores) look like T P
McKenna’s Bishop in the Genet play (“The Balcony”). Everybody
at some time or another plays a horse (yes - even Ian and Dick!)
and wear those stilt-shoes (cothurni) under the horse gear. So
Barton’s intention is to remind us that Richard and Bolingbroke
are playing parts. Well, no chance of forgetting that. I dislike
the set, ladders with steps too close together so the actors cannot
move gracefully. Several props and ideas are infuriating. If another
person stoops down by the sandbox at the front of the stage and
runs it through his fingers (so far, Richard, Mowbray, Bolingbroke,
Gaunt, and various lesser mortals) I shall scream.
2nd Preview, 7th April, matinee - over tea after
the performance Last night’s puzzles are clear in Ian’s interpretation
of Richard. But, oh, the clown! The way he tossed that book about
had such a familiar air I half expected the usual follow-through!
And only he could manage to get lost inside a cowl twice whilst
taking a bow! (Barton puts everyone into these costumes, so he
can play the three-card trick more easily with his cast.) And
the voice! Never have I heard such unrestrained and self-delighting
music! In both parts, it sings through the theatre until one is
almost drunk just listening to it. This is part of the interpretation
of the play (although it doesn’t happen with Pasco, of course)
but I can’t help feeling that a little bit of it is being back
at Stratford, and knowing that that is as right as anything ever
can be. Truly, it sounds almost Gielgudian at times.
3rd Preview, 7th April, evening - over hot chocolate
after the performance I am pleased they cut out the three witches
today. Last night the trap opened in the stage and before John
of Gaunt, there appeared three weird - sisters? - cottonwool hair,
twining limbs, echoing voices, skull in hand, the lot. Tony Church
warded ‘em off with a wooden crucifix, but I couldn’t see what
they had to do with the Duchess of Gloucester, whom they were
supposed to represent! Fewer mishaps tonight. When Richard took
the mask off there was actually someone in place to take it, so
he didn’t stand waving it behind his back till someone thought
about it; the mask actually did not break off before he took it,
so Ian didn’t have to do a quick repair job so Richard could carry
on with his speech; and Sebastian Shaw actually managed not to
declare that he came from “prune-plucked Richard”! and Richard
managed to put his gold “sun-god image” cloak on the right way,
not inside-out as Ian did, so he didn’t have to get in a peculiar
position in order to get the correct effect! But every time that
pair come face to face - however solemn the moment - they both
have the devil of a job to control themselves, and mouths twitch
frantically. And Ian has a way of going up to Pasco and looking
him in the eye so poor Dick has a desperate time not to laugh.
I really think they ought to be made to pay to be allowed on the
stage together - they are enjoying it so much - why shouldn’t
they pay entertainment tax?! They have quite an intriguing variety
of wigs, and do not wear exactly the same costumes when they change
roles. In the deposition scene, Richard trails about in black
shift and sandals, while Ian wears trousers and boots and looks
rather like Charles I with white hair. The well-known ski-slope*
camouflaged out of existence - evidently, it did not fit in with
his ideas of either Richard or Bolingbroke! Later Thanks to having
stopped behind again to write this, as I left the theatre I heard
a very musical "Good Night", and saw Himself disappearing into
the night under his good lady's umbrella. Monday They were still
rehearsing all day yesterday. This evening in the Duck someone
groaned that it was so altered he hoped he would remember it all.
4th preview, 9th April - after the performance
How can I leave tomorrow? It is too enthralling to leave. Each
performance more splendid than the last, and now one can see the
production’s shape and size. They have had a terrible grind -
rehearsing till late last night. Ian lost his lines in the deposition
scene, and invented well. Poor Sebastian got lost in the beggar
and the king scene, but it worked so beautifully well I wonder
Shakespeare never thought of it! So many things are different
at each performance, it is frustrating not knowing what will happen
on all the evenings I am not here. The maddening light changes,
everyone comes stage centre, is spot-lit, the rest in darkness,
says his bit, and the lights come on again - are yet another of
JB’s tricks to remind us of his theme, these are actors acting
acting. I still don’t like it. More images - The King is borne
aloft like Cleopatra; When playing Richard, Ian raises such gales
of laughter in the first half one waits for “My name is Brook”;
He must have been practising the Gielgud bit. Tonight it sounded
like Gielgud impersonating himself in one scene; Super scene of
kids building a snowman (which quickly melts) echoing the “mockery
king of snow”, they on hobby horses, like sketches for The Canterbury
Tales, omitted tonight; this scene also reminding one of “Henry
VIII” with the ball-playing kids and Cranmer (in this case, the
Duchess of York.) Any more Christ images and the audience would
start singing “The Messiah”! Shades of “Henry V” and “Measure
for Measure”; I am even beginning to like those daft horses. Who
else but Himself would absently pat Bolingbroke’s mount on the
nose? Poor Henry/Pasco could hardly control his “steed” for laughing!
Ian’s performance more daring than Pasco’s, and I think must more
surely echo Barton’s ideas. That is, daring physically, vocally,
in both humour and tragedy. (“The best actors in the world, both
for comedy, tragedy,”) Come to think of it, about the only production
it doesn’t remind me of is John Barton’s 1971 “Richard II”!
(*Ian Richardson’s
nose, of course!)
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