Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Nicolás Perez Costa
Nicolás Perez Costa’s brooding, atmospheric, highly stylised ensemble production of Richard III arrives in London after a commercially and critically acclaimed Spanish-language production in Madrid. The transition to English with an international cast is not entirely successful – much of the poetry and psychological nuance in Shakespeare’s dialogue is lost to thickly accented performances and the unrelenting physicality of the production. Still, Perez Costa makes for a memorably villainous Richard, and the 90-minute adaptation evokes a hauntingly dystopian, visually impressive milieu in which power politics are played out through writhing bodies, percussive rhythms, and no small amount of violence.
Perez Costa takes Queen Margaret’s (Juliet Prew) venomous description of Richard as “hell’s black intelligencer” as a blueprint for the character’s stage presence: quite literally a “lump of foul deformity” brought to life. White-faced, chiaroscuro-eyed, bare-chested save for a leather bodice and arm coverings made from what appear to be fishnet stockings, this is a half-man, half-beast with Tourette’s and burdened with crutches. His Richard creeps across the stage with the predatory air of a giant spider on the hunt, determined to prove his villainy to anyone he encounters. By the end of the play, the man staggers almost drunkenly from one side of the stage to the other, quite literally intoxicated with power.
The raw, febrile energy of Perez Costa’s theatrical expressionism stuns; the problem is that it is often difficult to work out what his character is saying. The actor’s thick Argentinian accent certainly communicates his character’s ‘otherness’ – this is a beast out of time and place, biologically and psychologically engineered for the battlefield rather than the court. But the accent gets in the way of understanding. What must have worked brilliantly in Spanish struggles in English.
The same challenge in understanding arises with Spanish actor Hugo Coello’s fey (camp-as-a-row-of-tents might describe it better) Lord Hastings, with Germán Martins growling, grimacing, cocktail-stick-chewing Catesby, and with Marta Carvalho’s Queen Elizabeth (Carvalho channels a kind of gothic, vampy Bette Davis into the turn). The performances are charismatic, at times evoking the grandeur and exaggerated gestures of silent-screen acting. But one struggles to hear them.
One suspects Perez Costa’s intention throughout is for the oversized physical language to communicate the characters’ psychology and intentions in the absence of actual language. Often it works, but nuance is too often missing. Latinx passions translate here into Anglo-Saxon hyperbole. Of the other ensemble performances, Tricia Hitchcock’s malign, gender switched Buckingham impresses, as does Tom Longmire’s whinging, self-righteous Duke of Clarence.
The production eschews any effort towards historical accuracy. Visually, this is the design aesthetic of Mad Max mashed up with Punk, delivered with the furious pace of a particularly bloodthirsty episode of Game of Thrones. The costumes, uncredited in the production notes, are superb. On top, there are brown, gold, and orange trench coats and royal robes adorned with lace, patchwork, and faux fur. Underneath, anticipate tight-fitting black leather-style trousers, skirts and skimpy lace bodices. The top-notch lighting, again uncredited, evokes a claustrophobic, cloying atmosphere.
For staging, Perez Costa makes do with six oil drums, which become percussion instruments beating out the rhythms of battle. There are also a couple of stepladders that at one point become Richard’s vast swords as he sits astride a giant horse. The dream sequence on the eve of the Battle of Bosworth, in which Richard is visited by the spirits of every single person he has murdered or betrayed across the play, sees Perez Costa writhe uncontrollably under a vast translucent white curtain, held in place by the other cast members. Visually, the effect is extraordinary; just do not expect to hear the soliloquy from underneath.
You will remember Perez Costa’s Richard III. Visually, it is a feast, and if you know the play well, you can pretty much fill in the blanks in a production in which movement, gesture and action carry the primary narrative arc. Those who don’t know the play may struggle to catch the lines or deduce what is going on. Ultimately, one cannot help but think that Richard’s greatest weapon is his power to persuade people through words to accept the unacceptable and do terrible things. If you do not hear his words, you may not be convinced.
Runs until 11 July 2026
