ARTS / Richard the joint first: Stage Actor of the Year
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.IT WAS not a great year for heroic performances. The most obvious contenders were Antony Sher's Tamburlaine (at the Swan) which, besides its stunning acrobatics, brought a sense of Faustian aspiration to the Scythian warlord; and Paul Scofield's Shotover in Heartbreak House (Haymarket) which gave Shaw the tragic reverberation of Joseph Conrad. Otherwise there was Kenneth Branagh's non-patrician Coriolanus at Chichester, John Nettles's return to Stratford as an underwhelming Leontes, and Alan Rickman's Hamlet (Riverside, Hammersmith, and touring), a jaundiced outsider who gave up on revenge even before he had started.
The two actors it still thrills me to remember are Simon Russell Beale and Barrie Rutter: both as Richard III. Jointly they reclaimed the role from the last lingering grasp of Olivier. Beale played him in Sam Mendes's production (the Other Place and touring) as a flabby grotesque housing the intelligence of a snake whose venomous wit never concealed his self-hatred. Rutter played the role in his own production for his own Northern Broadsides company, at the Hull Festival and touring. His Yorkshire Richard led you to expect a brusque, down-to-earth villain, and left you completely unprepared for the refined cruelties and horrors in the second (and usually anti- climactic) part of the play. Both Richards can still be seen: Rutter's at the Riverside Studios (081- 748 3354) till 9 Jan, Beale's at the Donmar Warehouse (071-867 1150) from 14 Jan.
Close behind comes Ann Mitchell, for her portrayal of the title role in Euripides's Hecuba in Laurence Boswell's production at the Gate. She unforgettably showed a heroic protagonist belittled and finally destroyed by the experience of tragedy. In separate ways, all three performances took me to places I had never seen before.
(Photographs omitted)
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments