- The Observer,
- Sunday April 8 2001
Richard II
Sam West, 34, plays Richard II. He is the son of Timothy West and Prunella Scales. He opens in Hamlet on 2 May
The RSC's millennium project, This England: the Histories, presents all eight of Shakespeare's history plays from Richard II to Richard III , with six Henrys in between. This week, for the first time in the company's history, we do them in chronological order over five days. I'm playing Richard II, so I've got the first line.
Putting the histories together is a fat carrot at the end of the year-long season and it's a pleasure to discover that they've grown so much and so differently. The company is very strong and has made the journey together. It's hard to separate my thoughts about Richard from the decisions we've taken, but I am proud to be part of such a bold venture.
The beginning of the new millennium is a good time to ask hard questions about this England, particularly as the questions haven't changed much in 400 years (I like to say I'm doing a play about the poll tax riots, the Irish question and who should succeed to my throne set in 1398). Charles and Camilla came to see Richard II in week two and it was fascinating, and very odd, to debate the problems of being a king in front of your next one. On meeting him backstage, all I could think of to say was: 'I hope we haven't put you off.'
Richard is a king who defends his right to rule with spin and pride and only after his abdication does he come to terms with the existential terror of simply being alive. I see him as a leading man who realises that he's miscast and that only he can sack himself. He is not the man for the times; encouraged to bash the French in front of his French wife, he hears the word gun and reaches for his culture. But he is, I think, a man for our times, trying to make sense of his suspicion that hierarchy and title are nonsense. I hope this week's audiences start to question a system which gives individuals semi-divine status by virtue of their patronage and then turns them into scapegoats for their country's ills. George Bush, take note - the crown is poisoned and we kill our kings in the end.
It's a good time to be at the RSC. The company celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year and might be forgiven for staging these plays on a raft of pride and pageantry. Instead, the directors have chosen stripped-down settings, which put the focus on the acting and give the political ideas room to expand. And it's good news for actors, though hard work.
All eight productions are cross-cast. Predicting Northumberland's treachery is particularly satisfying when you know that Northumberland will act out your predictions in both parts of Henry IV the next day. David Troughton, who plays Bolingbroke, has the last line in Richard II and the first in Henry IV Part I. To date, he has done nine different endings to our play. He still throws in a different one occasionally to keep us on our toes. And this history cycle is written by the victors - when I heard Hotspur call Richard 'That sweet lovely rose', I had to stop myself jumping up from the audience and crying: 'Hang on - you never said that when I was alive.'
Henry IV
David Troughton, 50, plays Bolingbroke in Richard II and becomes Henry IV for Parts I and II. He is the son of Patrick Troughton, the second Dr Who.
'The father-and-son theme of the plays is underlined for me because I open the first cycle of history plays, as Bolingbroke in Richard II, and my son Sam closes the second cycle in Henry VI. My father did not like stage acting. He didn't like the repetition and called it: "All that shouting in the evenings."
This is the best company I have ever been in. You can dispense with all those getting-to-know-you games. We had a mish-mash of ideas at the beginning, but the crown quickly became a metaphor for something a man wants but which will eventually kill him.
'Richard II is my favourite, probably because you can politicise it. They are all different, of course, although a lot of the public will have wanted the history series all done in doublet and hose. We should not always give people what they want; that's what TV does.
'Mike Attenborough, the director of Henry IV, is extremely good at telling a story simply. He doesn't bother with gadgets, he trusts the actors. He is relaxed enough to let the laughs happen in the right scenes and to lean on the clarity of the text.
'When it comes to learning all the words, the brain is the most amazing thing. I don't know how we do it. Shakespearean actors learned several of the plays, but they did it in repertory. Luckily, the kings don't all stay on the stage as long as Richard III does. I think Burbage complained to Shakespeare after he wrote that one and so the other monarchs are given one act off.'
Henry V
William Houston, 32, has been hailed as one of the young heroes of the RSC's history series. He grew up in Sussex and went to Central School of Speech and Drama.
'I have followed David Troughton's advice and I don't read the reviews. But if people are saying that these plays are good, it is because we've had the great advantage of rehearsing for a long time. In both parts of Henry IV , the director has trusted the actors to find their own voice. Mike hasn't come between the text and the actors at all. I think that is why the comedy has worked so well. Mind you, when you have experienced comic actors like Benjamin Whitrow and Peter Copley playing Justices Shallow and Silence, you can afford to relax. They are both ice-cool. It is extraordinary to see them before they go on.
'Doing this series gives you a huge amount of respect for the crown. It is almost as if I am taking on the responsibility for carrying on with the cycle of plays from David. I have to change so much through the three plays, too. I do find it quite difficult to go back to doing Part I now. Prince Hal is hard to come back to after playing him as king.
'It is a marathon, really. People who I haven't seen for a while say: "My god, what has happened to your voice?" I have aged around 12 years in one year. I would say that personally I have grown too and it has been a wonderful way to grow up. Talking about these ideas - that is what I love about Shakespeare, discussing the concept of what leadership really is.
'I wish these productions could go on to another venue, but I honestly wonder if I am getting too old to play the part of the prince. I want to try film and television work now, I think. I want to find out more about that.
' Henry V has been a different challenge. Ed Hall, the director, is only 33 and he has huge energy. His production is full of energy too and you are going to be lost against that set unless you are really powerful. It is a monster of a thing. There are so many bangs and clatters going on. But there are great imaginative compensations, such as the hanging of Bardolph, which is a terrific moment. The production gets an amazing reception from school parties, which is a great test.'
Henry VI
David Oyelowo, 25, is the winner of this year's Ian Charleson Award for an outstanding performance given by an actor under 30. He plays Henry VI
'It has been an incredible experience, covering what amounts to 60 years of history. What's more, I play the same part all the way through.
'I am going to be a father for the first time in October, so the theme of inheritance has been interesting. But I had a huge affinity with this part from the first because Henry VI is a Christian, as I am. His beliefs mean he is swimming against the tide and I often feel like that in the acting profession. So that sat very easily with me. People make a lot of mistakes with Henry VI. It is too easy to dismiss him as a John the Baptist-style nutter. But if he is portrayed as ineffectual, then you miss the conflict and the contrast with everyone else at court, who is interested in power and in family trees. The plays went down a storm in the US. They think Shakespeare is other- worldly, so the fact that the RSC was coming out there to do it was amazing to them.
'Learning the script has not been that difficult. It is like being an athlete. You get much better by just doing it. And good writing is very easy to learn. In fact, you can't wait to get up there and start speaking the lines. When we do all the parts in one day it is quite tricky though. Twelve hours of concentration takes it out of you. You crash out afterwards. You have to acknowledge that you have put your body through something quite devastating.
'It is very different for an audience too. We rarely apply our attention to anything for more than two or three hours, so about six hours in to the series, the audience shifts mood.
'I have made a leap in my acting with this part that other actors have to make over years. It is just that Shakespeare makes you fearless.'
Richard III
Aidan McArdle, 30, plays Richard III. He is from Dublin and went to Rada before joining the Abbey Theatre. He was a member of last season's RSC company and played Puck in Michael Boyd's A Midsummer Night's Dream
'It is almost like finding yourself in some sort of sprint relay with the Linford Christies of this world. I felt like that before I started rehearsing, when I went to see the other plays in Stratford. It was terrifying because the others were so good.
'I do think Richard is utterly lost as a man, but he knows that he is. He has made a kind of Faustian pact and, to a certain extent, he is getting his own back and shaking his fist at the world. It is a decision Richard takes to be evil and to do as much damage as possible. He hides behind the idea of retribution. He is the third brother and the runty one and when you see Henry VI first, you can see just how far away he is from power at the beginning.
'After the regicide, Richard is capable of doing anything. He goes from wondering: "Will I really do all that I think I could?" to being quite sure that he is damned. Richard is dealing with a problem and establishing for himself a whole bridge. He believes that everyone is utilitarian. So, actually, he is quite shaken when he is forgiven at the end of Henry VI Part III, because that kind of forgiveness does not fit into his world view.
'These histories are about character and plot, not time, so it doesn't matter when they are set. Our director has made a virtue of the repeated themes and roles within the plays.
'When it came to learning the words, you just do it. The words are the engine of the whole drama, so they're not difficult to learn. It is a feat of memory, but it doesn't feel like that. You are so much more eloquent in Shakespeare; every character is.'
All the kings' men...
Audiences attending the entire cycle will see almost 24 hours of theatre, 1,413 minutes of Shakespeare
More than 400 costumes and 200 pairs of shoes and boots are used during the eight plays, plus five severed heads; more than 50 swords and 10 pints of stage blood
79 actors play 264 roles
David Oyelowo is the first black actor to play an English monarch in an RSC production
Strictly speaking, there are seven kings: apart from the kings described here, there is Edward III, who is the subject of a play recently attributed to Shakespeare. Edward IV is the elder brother to Richard III (he dies at the end of Henry VI).
• The RSC is performing the whole cycle of history plays twice from tomorrow at the Barbican. Inquiries: 020 7638 8891.
