Kevin Spacey to perform Richard III in Singapore

[Guest fountainhall]

There was talk on another thread about posters missing Ian McKellan's King Lear in Singapore last year. I just read that Kevin Spacey will be performing there in another Shakespeare work - Richard III directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Revolutionary Road etc.) for London's Old Vic Company - from 17–26 November 2011 at the Esplanade Theatre. It will be on a tour between seasons in London and New York. Priority tickets are now on sale. Not sure when general tickets become available.

 

It will also play just 4 performances in Hong Kong from September 16-18.

 

http://theandygram.com/Broadway-Press-Release-Retweet/2010-11-Theatre-Press-Releases/Bridge-Project-Announces-Cast-Dates-for-RICHARD-III-Starring-Kevin-Spacey.html?print=1&tmpl=component

[KhorTose]

I would gladly go to Singapore to see Ian McKellan any day of the week. However, Kevin Spacey doing Shakesphere. All i can say is ouch. I reminded of Robert Downey's and Tres handley's performance in Ian's "Richard III", of Denzel Washington's and Keanu Reeves' performance in "Much Ado about Nothing", of Jack Lemon's, performance in Hamlet, Al Pachino in "The Merchant of Venice", etc. I have seen two Americans play well by using their own accents: Billy Crystal in "Hamlet" and Michael Keaton in "Much Ado about Nothing". However, I can count on one hand the really very good Shakesphere performances by Americans. Orson Wells in several roles, Charlton Heston in "Hamlet", and Kevin Kline in a "Midsummers Night Dream" While I have liked Kevin Spacey is some roles, he is no Shakespearean actor and no way in the same class of the three Americans i have seen do Shakespeare well. If I was there I might go, but no way would I make a special trip.

[TotallyOz]

I saw Ian in London 20 years ago. He played the lead role in 2 different plays on different connecting nights. He was amazing!

[Guest fountainhall]

However, Kevin Spacey doing Shakesphere. All i can say is ouch.

I have never seen him on stage and would be tempted to make the same comments. However, he has done a lot of stage work in London since he single-handedly rescued the historic Old Vic Theatre 7 years ago. In 2006, he also won the coveted 'Will' award for his work in classical theatre, putting him in some very distinguished company -

 

The Will Award is an annual honor given by the Shakespeare Theatre Company to a person who has made a significant contribution to classical theatre in America. Past recipients include Jeremy Irons, Dame Judi Dench, Fiona Shaw, Ralph Fiennes, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Dame Maggie Smith, Hal Holbrook, Patrick Stewart, Sam Waterston, Lynn Redgrave, Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, Mel Gibson, Kenneth Branagh, Christopher Plummer, Kevin Kline, the late Joseph Papp and Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director Michael Kahn.

Hallowed company indeed!

 

I have no idea what his Richard III will be like. But Sam Mendes is one of the great directors of today and that is reason enough for me to go and see it. But also, I think it's wrong to write Spacey off as a Shakespearean. He may be no Gielgud, Olivier or McKellan. But of his Richard II in 2005, The Guardian review said -

 

Spacey's fine performance confirms his Shakespearean credentials . . . It is in the great central scenes of Richard's return to England after the Irish wars that Spacey really comes into his own. Often Richard's speeches are treated as virtuoso arias of grief. Instead Spacey, having sentimentally kissed the English soil, flies into impotent rages at the discovery of Bolingbroke's treachery. "Am I not king?" he barks as if to compensate for his collapsing power. By not openly begging for our pity, Spacey genuinely earns our compassion.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2005/oct/05/theatre.art

[KhorTose]

Listen there is nothing I would like more then to see more American Actors do Shakespeare.

I love his plays and take pride on knowing most of them. Maybe I am cynical, but I have seen so many terrible performances by Americans that I remain a skeptic until someone proves me wrong, and then I am happy to be proved wrong.

The fact that Spacey played Richard II is not a great recommendation. Richard II is not one of his Shakespeare's best plays as it contains almost no prose. Some scholars actually do not think Shakespeare wrote this play. Unlike the sequels (HIV1&2 & HV) RII lacks much of the power Shakespeare usually displays, nor is it that historically accurate. However, I am forever hopeful and would welcome you posting a review when one comes out.

[Guest fountainhall]

Kevin Spacey doing Shakesphere. All i can say is ouch

I'm returning to KhorTose's comment only because the play just opened in London and I noticed an extremely fine review in today's Guardian newspaper, particularly for Spacey's performance.

 

Sam Mendes has come up with a beautifully clear, coherent modern-dress production in which the protagonist becomes an autocratic archetype.

 

But the real buzz and excitement stems from Kevin Spacey's powerful central performance.

 

Spacey doesn't radically overthrow the Olivier concept of Richard the Satanic joker, as Sher and McKellen did. What he offers us is his own subtle variations on it: a Richard in whom instinctive comic brio is matched by a power-lust born of intense self-hatred.

 

You see this right from the start when Spacey sits moodily slumped in a chair watching newsreel footage of his brother's regal triumph. As he reaches angrily for the zapper, you get an instant sense of exclusion: Richard as the misanthropic outsider who will use a veneer of quick-witted charm as a ladder to the throne.

 

What is impressive about Spacey is that he acts with every fibre of his being. His voice has acquired a rougher, darker edge. With his left leg encased in a calliper splint, he still bustles about the stage with ferocious energy.

 

But it is the eyes that one remembers. They reveal the depth of Richard's self-loathing when Lady Anne succumbs to his wooing and finds in him, as he does not, "a marvellous, proper man" . . .

 

I shall remember Spacey's Richard less for its political insight into the world of Gaddafi and Mubarak than for its psychological understanding of solitude. In the excellently staged eve-of-Bosworth scene, where Richard's victims sit behind a long table like a committee of the dead, Spacey cries, "there is no creature loves me". That strikes me as the keystone of a superb performance.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/jun/29/richard-iii-review-kevin-spacey

[Guest fountainhall]

According to Reuters, British critics are hailing Kevin Spacey for his performance in the title role of Shakespeare's "Richard III"

 

. . . Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph said the modern dress production of one of Shakespeare's most famous plays was "superb, but missing greatness by a whisker."

 

. . . James Woodall of The Arts Desk agreed with the overall consensus in a positive review, but added: "If there's anything missing from his (Spacey's) performance, it's decadence, a whiff of sweaty corruption and moral disintegration -- of the charnel house; but these are small lacks in a full evening."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/30/us-stage-shakespeare-spacey-idUKTRE75T2JD20110630

[KhorTose]

I'm returning to KhorTose's comment only because the play just opened in London and I noticed an extremely fine review in today's Guardian newspaper, particularly for Spacey's performance.

 

 

http://www.guardian....ew-kevin-spacey

Somehow, I read he was doing Richard II. If he got that good of review on RIII then I am impressed. This is one of my favorite plays and one thing I have always read into this play is Richard's great self-loathing and it is a credit to Spacey that he sees that also.

 

I just may go. Went on the Esplanade website and they are only showing events till Oct. Will try to get tickets in one month.

[Guest fountainhall]

The confusion has arisen from posts #4 and #5 above. I am trying to find out when booking will open for Singapore. Maybe see you there, as I definitely plan to go.

[Guest fountainhall]

Just heard from friends in Singapore that tickets sales started today. It's not cheap, with a range from S$60 - S$245 (approx. US$48 - US$200) with 10% discount if you book by Mastercard. The excellent Esplanade Theatre has a U-shaped opera house layout. The best seats - and therefore the most expensive - will be in the stalls!

 

http://www.sistic.com.sg/portal/dt?retry=1&dt.windowProvider.targetPortletChannel=JSPTabContainer/sEventsCalendar/Event&contentCode=richard1111&dt.isPortletRequest=true&dt.provider=PortletWindowProcessChannel&dt.containerName=JSPTabContainer/sEventsCalendar&dt.action=process&dt.windowProvider.currentChannelMode=VIEW&dt.window.portletAction=RENDER

[Rogie]

. . .he has done a lot of stage work in London since he single-handedly rescued the historic Old Vic Theatre 7 years ago.

Good article in Britain's Telegraph today (as I write). Here is an extract

 

The reviews for Kevin Spacey

[KhorTose]

I have tickets for the 24th. I will let all of you know what I thought of the acting.

[KhorTose]

Well I went to the play in Singapore and I was very impressed. The Good: The play was set in a modernistic setting using one basic set that consisted of a number of doors in a large room. Once you get use to this rather strange set you do find it works well with the play and the early 19th century dress of the actors. This is and has always been a one person play, with some great lines by Richard's mother and Edward's wife, but the main focus is always on Richard III.

Spacey does an excellent job of getting all the nuances of this very complex character. For those familiar with the character he is devious, scheming, capable of charm and cruelty and driven by an overwhelming self hate and anger that leads inevitably to his self-destruction. A very difficult character to play, but Spacey manages to get all the nuances. The Bad: Spacey is not the only American in the cast. Spacey and the Americans are very good at the language of Shakespeare when they speak slowly, but tend to slur the words and lose the beat when they speak rapidly. It was kind of remarkable to hear the tone of the British speakers and the difference in the American speakers and did take a little away from the play. However, the audience and I did give the actors a standing ovation and I do think it was well earned. Overall well worth the trip to Singapore. I do wish we had more of this kind of play in Thailand.

[Guest fountainhall]

he is devious, scheming, capable of charm and cruelty and driven by an overwhelming self hate and anger . . .

Wow! Sounds like a few of the posters on some of the Thai gay chat sites

 

Loved your description of the performance. I was also there and one of the many who jumped to their feet at the end. Spacey was excellent, although I felt towards the end of what was an extremely long evening (3 1/2 hours with just one interval) his vocal technique was a bit suspect when his constant shouting with rage resulted in a hoarseness in the voice. But then he had done two performances the day before, so I think any regular Shakespearean actor playing that role would be taxed by that sort of schedule.

 

Another thing amazed me, though: that Singapore is fast becoming the arts/entertainment centre of the region. What with The Lion King having played there for many months, Wicked about to open soon for an extended run, a Cirque du Soleil-type spectacular Voyage de la vie running on Sentosa, the Universal Theme Park now fully open - there is lots of see. I was even able to catch an exhibition at the National Museum of works from the great Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Titled Dreams & Reality, wIth paintings by Monet, Degas, Gaugin, Cézanne, van Gogh, Renoir, Seurat, Pissarro and a host of others, this was no cheap touring exhibition. Great value for the US$4.60 entrance. The Exhibition runs until February 5.

[Guest fountainhall]

Looking back on Kevin Spacey's really splendid performance of Richard III last week, I got to thinking about 'stars' playing in lead roles and whether we, as an audience, can become so engrossed in the characters they are playing that we are able to forget they are 'star names' performing a role.

 

I don't think there was even a moment in that play when I did not know this was Kevin Spacey. I certainly do not think that was in any way his fault. Was it due to the near contemporary updating of the performance and the the lack of a 15th century costume and setting? Or will a star name always be betrayed by his star status, no matter how magnificent the performance?

 

In my time, I have seen some of the 'greats' on stage - from (I'll leave out the 'Sirs' and 'Dames') John Gielguld, Ralph Richardson, Ian McKellan, Ian Richardson, the incomparable Peggy Ashcroft, Vanessa Richardson, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith etc. Thinking about their performances, I reckon it was only in my early days of theatre-going before they became household names to me that I was able to immerse myself totally in their stage personae, as opposed to a feeling of "I know that star."

 

One 'great' I failed to see - he cancelled the performance of Merchant of Venice for which I had a ticket - was Laurence Olivier. He had, I'm told, an almost chamelion-like ability to change his personality and become the role he was playing. Can we say that of any other actors living today, I wonder?