To Float on the Wayward Wind

5/5 David Tennant embodies the title role of Shakespeare’s Richard II , live in Stratford and broadcast worldwide by the Royal Shakespeare Company for the first time. The production’s atmosphere is reverent and gripping. Design and lighting, by Stephen Brimson Lewis and Tim Mitchell respectively, feels period-appropriate but freshly modern. The thrust stage offers director Gregory Doran great variety for staging while a bridge and shimmering curtains of beads infuse a sense of mystery. Doran uses space shrewdly in executing the production’s allegorical concept. Parallels between Richard and Jesus Christ were notable but not heavy handed, keeping the focus on the characters. Still, chant-like music, composed by Paul Englishby and performed live, combined with the cathedral-like design contribute to the sense of holiness, aptly touching on the play’s central issue of the divine right of kings. Rather than resting within this allegorical context, David Tennant plays an ...