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Ian
Richardson/Richard Pasco directed by John Barton
The
RSC’s international reputation was largely built upon the legendary
“The Wars of the Roses”, co-directed and edited by John Barton.
I had seen his “Coriolanus”, “Troilus and Cressida”, “Measure
for Measure”, “Twelth Night” and “The Tempest”: I booked for all
the “Richard II” previews, in great anticipation. The reward was
a quartet of great performances and an endlessly fascinating interpretation
of one of my favourite plays.
As expected, both performances and staging changed
considerably at each preview. The production continued to change
and evolve throughout its lifespan, even after the American tour.
John Barton had directed Richard Pasco as Richard
II for a Theatregoround production. Now he had Ian Richardson
and Richard Pasco exchanging the roles of Richard and Bolingbroke
at different performances. With two such fine actors, there was
much enjoyment to be had at either performance. Pasco’s Bolingbroke
grew over the months. In particular, all his “family” scenes -
first with John of Gaunt, and later with the petitioning Yorks,
were superb.
Ian was a fine, ambiguous Bolingbroke. As Richard,
he was both physically and vocally a risk-taker. As an actor,
he loves “dressing up” and he loves “props”1.
On the stage, a mock-up was dressed in robes and crown. The company
filed onto the stage, all wearing the same plain costumes, and
added to their attire whilst Ian Richardson and Richard Pasco
appeared to decide between them who-would-do-which-part tonight.
Then, the rest of the company cried out “God save the King”, twice;
then the actor playing Richard cried alone, “God save the King”,
and the play began. This initial statement (that we were watching
actors acting) was echoed throughout the performance, emphasizing
very strongly the impression in the text that Shakespeare’s King
Richard is an actor. This much was retained throughout the play’s
run.
Many other themes and images appeared and disappeared
in different performances. Early in the run, actors appeared on
stilts and cothurni (these add about 12” to the wearer’s height).
The King exited between the legs of stilt-walking conspirators,
showing his blindness to the growing danger, but also giving them
a supernatural quality. Exton grew into a great winged, plume-helmeted
creature (later in the run, this image was given instead to Northumberland).
Cothurni were also used when the plotters were “on horseback”,
forming an apocaliptic impression. The very symmetry of these
scenes gave rise to a sense of overwhelming might and the inevitability
of their success.
Over time, Barton appeared to move away from
the suggestion of the superhuman adversary, and these overt indications
were removed from the production. Instead, the emphasis seemed
to be placed on the family relationships - the Yorks in particular
becoming very playful and loving. In the early scenes, both the
King and Bolingbroke looked about in their early 20s, and aged
to late 50’s (grey hair, beards, etc.) by Bolingbroke’s return
to England.
All the humour of the early scenes was brought
out, particularly by Ian Richardson; by Pasco also, but his tended
to be “wry, dry humour” (as he said Barton required). Each actor
within each role worked within the framework of the production,
but there were differences in emphasis, and also some differences
in the text. For example, Pasco made a religious observance over
the death of the conspirators (in Latin), which Richardson did
not, and he also retained some lines in his invective against
the plotters which certainly lodged firmly in my brain on first
hearing (he says he felt very strongly about them), which Ian
(following Barton’s direction) cut. There were also a few transpositions
(lines that are in the text, but spoken by a different character).
They did not always wear exactly the same costumes.
The production was full of the imagery
of the play. The set included a ladder at each side of the stage
leading to a platform on which the king appeared at Flint Castle,
the platform descending on the lines
"Down, down I come, like glistering Phaeton
Wanting the manage of unruly jades".
There were many great theatrical moments. The
platform appearance had great impact. Richard Pasco always handled
this scene very well, but with his dislike of heights, can never
have been happy. Richardson enjoyed anything he could climb or
- almost - fall out/off of2. When he flung
open his arms, the cloak opening like golden wings about him,
and trumpeted,
"Yet know, my master, God omnipotent,
Is mustering in his clouds on our behalf
Armies of pestilence; and they shall strike
Your children yet unborn and unbegot
That lift your vassal hands against my head
And threat the glory of my precious crown",
a frisson went through the audience such as I did not experience
again until Paul Scofield’s black-cloaked Salieri vowed opposition
to the God who squandered his musical gifts upon the “unworthy”
Amadeus Mozart.
In the second year, the moving platform was
not used. In an even more beautiful coup de theatre, the King,
again wearing the dazzling golden cloak, appeared out of the mist
and sun, a wonderful realisation of the “blushing, discontented
sun” metaphor. At that time, Richardson's costume changed from
the white shift to a white suit and thigh boots. He still managed
to make it look as though he was flinging himself down on a platform
high in the air...
Another stunning theatrical moment occurred
in the scene in which a groom visits the deposed king in his cell.
Beneath the monk-like habit (of which the RSC in general and Barton
in particular was fond), this was discovered to be Bolingbroke.
I remember hoping that the critics would not “give the game away”,
but most of them did. The death scene was shocking, and suitably
horrible - the King jerked high into the air and suspended by
the wrists to be slaughtered (Richardson’s idea, as his deaths
often were).
As in the best of Barton’s work, music played
an important part. Simple tunes, extremely effective and even
now, highly evocative of the production.
1You just have to have seen him on stage...!
2 See Jeremy Kingston in what the Critics
said. Richardson threw himself down on the platform and did "recline
like a wounded Adonis". Pasco was much less "taut" the following
year when he did not have to play this scene high in the air on
a narrow platform!
Shirley Jacobs©
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