Samuel West - Theatre - Richard II

[updated 19 March 2011]

Richard II by William Shakespeare
RSC, directed by Steven Pimlott
The Other Place (Stratford) 28 March-5 October 2000; Barbican Theatre (London) 19 December 2000-17 April 2001

Reviews

Curtain Up
"...his [Sam's] performance as Richard II is mesmerising and mature..."

International Herald Tribune
"...Samuel West's compulsive, compelling, indecisive king..."

divento
"...Samuel West has the rare talent of making one fall a little in love with whatever character he is playing. Here, his King Richard is not intrinsically feeble or unbalanced, but a young man with a similarly young court circle who simply proves too light for the well orchestrated plans of David Troughton's Machiavellian Bolingbroke..."

The Guardian
"...Compact with irony and intelligence, it is a performance that augurs well for West's Stratford Hamlet..."

The Herald
"...Shorn of narcissism or self-pity, West's superbly gauged performance is both wise and weak, sardonic and lyrical, now regal, now everyman..."

Financial Times
"...Sam West's performance as Richard is marvellous in its blend of intelligence and modesty. He seems almost to make himself transparent in his effort to reveal the play, the character, the lines - and yet he has natural authority. In the simplest, surest brushstrokes, he shows us the essence of each speech, each scene..."

The Observer
"... [Sam] is a crisp, intelligent and original Richard..."

Interviews

The Independent "History in every word", 12 March 2000
Coventry Evening Telegraph "I'll never bore of the Bard", 24 March 2000
Evening Mail "Sam keeps it in the family", 24 March 2000
Birmingham Post "Divine role being cast as Richard II", 28 March 2000

Pictures

RSC/Manuel Harlan 1|2|3
Arenapal. arp1017008, arp1017018-arp1017021, arp1017027, arp1017030, arp1017031, 0261676-0261678, 0243370
Corbis. RJ002878
AHDS (via samuel_daily) [link]

Other

Smallwood, Robert (ed.) (2007), Players of Shakespeare 6: Essays in the Performance of Shakespeare's History Plays, 1st edn, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. "King Richard II" (pp. 85-99) - essay by Sam
The Guardian "New trainers or a theatre ticket? Expensive choice", 9 July 2000 - article by Sam about theatre written while the play was in rep at Stratford
The Observer "To play the kings", 8 April 2001

Tags: Samuel West, Sam West, Richard II, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, RSC, Royal Shakespeare Company, Steven Pimlott, The Other Place, Stratford, Barbican Theatre, London, David Troughton, Bolingbroke