This son of York?
Oct. 20th, 2013 07:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakSo the first reviews for Gregory Doran's production of Richard II, starring David Tennant, are in and they are glowing, both for the entire production and for DT in the title role, which makes me hope I'll manage to catch the performance when its broadcast to several cinemas, including one in Munich. One aspect in the reviews, however, made me sit up in a mixture of amusement and sympathy, because, what the critics are hinting here leaves me to conclude good old Doran is going for a shipping war with the Richard/Bolingbroke fandom. Also that he must have really liked The Hollow Crown, or rather, the Richard II part of same, not in their interpretation of Richard himself but, well, let's put this under a spoiler cut for anyone who doesn't want to get spoiled for a theatre production twist of a centuries old play based on English history.
As a reminder: one big twist The Hollow Crown dreamt up was to make Richard's young cousin Aumerle, who starts out as his devoted sidekick and later has a mini conspiracy on his behalf against the newly crowned cousin Henry going, also one of his killers in order to redeem himself in Henry's eyes. Now, not having any passionate feelings re: young Aumerle (later to become Duke of York himself, which means his descendants and Henry Bolingbroke's descendants provide Will Shakespeare with more plot for plays via the War of the Roses), I thought this was great and a way to make the subplot about the mini conspiracy and Aumerle's parents trying to salvage the situation with Henry IV. more part of the overall story. But at least two of the people on my flist were indignant about it.
Consequently, when I read this review, I thought "aha!" and "oh" at the same time. After noting that Doran's focus isn't actually on the Richard II/Bolingbroke, the reviewer continues:
Interestingly, though, Doran is more interested in the king’s relationship with his other cousin, the young Aumerle. I should perhaps issue a spoiler alert for the rest of this paragraph. This production gives the pair a charged, private sequence on the walls of Flint Castle (evoked by the mobile gantry that slices across Stephen Brimson Lewis’s excellent design). The monarch’s speech of speculative capitulation (“What must the King do now? Must he submit?”) reduces his devoted number one supporter to such heartfelt, quiet tears that Tennant’s Richard is touched to a moment of rare compassion for another creature – treating his cousin to a tenderly passionate kiss and a cradling on his breast. But Aumerle, whose riven emotional state is beautifully conveyed by Oliver Rix, turns into the production’s most extreme casualty of the world of divided loyalties. Shopped to the new king by his own father for his treacherous plots, to what desperate lengths might such a man go to prove that he’s been born again politically?
To what desperate lengths indeed. This made it virtually certain for me, and just now I read the Observer's review, which says:
The text has been tweaked to accommodate an unexpected homosexual kiss, and an unexpected (that's to say, rewritten) murderer of the king. Both are provocative and both make sense.
I rest my case. I also wonder how Aumerle's upgrading from minor character in Richard II to The Other Cousin who's responsible for Richard's demise (after getting to kiss him on stage, something I think even productions to went for some homoerotic tension between Richard and his successful rival, Cousin Henry, did not give to good old Bolingbroke) will affect the tiny but extremely well written corner of Shakespeare fanfiction. Will it continue to be rejected indignantly, or will we see Richard/Aumerle rise to rival tragic ship status by new blood, no bad pun intended, via people who get introduced to the play through this production? I mean, The Hollow Crown brought a lot of Hiddlestans to the two Henry IV plays plus Henry V, and so who knows how many David Tennant fans will get their introduction to the play here? (Not to mention the inevitable tumblr gifs as soon as that "tenderly passionate kiss" gets broadcast.)
This Yuletide might be a test case. If anyone writes killer!Aumerle, we can credit/blame the Hollow Crown folk and Gregory Doran in equal measure.
As a reminder: one big twist The Hollow Crown dreamt up was to make Richard's young cousin Aumerle, who starts out as his devoted sidekick and later has a mini conspiracy on his behalf against the newly crowned cousin Henry going, also one of his killers in order to redeem himself in Henry's eyes. Now, not having any passionate feelings re: young Aumerle (later to become Duke of York himself, which means his descendants and Henry Bolingbroke's descendants provide Will Shakespeare with more plot for plays via the War of the Roses), I thought this was great and a way to make the subplot about the mini conspiracy and Aumerle's parents trying to salvage the situation with Henry IV. more part of the overall story. But at least two of the people on my flist were indignant about it.
Consequently, when I read this review, I thought "aha!" and "oh" at the same time. After noting that Doran's focus isn't actually on the Richard II/Bolingbroke, the reviewer continues:
Interestingly, though, Doran is more interested in the king’s relationship with his other cousin, the young Aumerle. I should perhaps issue a spoiler alert for the rest of this paragraph. This production gives the pair a charged, private sequence on the walls of Flint Castle (evoked by the mobile gantry that slices across Stephen Brimson Lewis’s excellent design). The monarch’s speech of speculative capitulation (“What must the King do now? Must he submit?”) reduces his devoted number one supporter to such heartfelt, quiet tears that Tennant’s Richard is touched to a moment of rare compassion for another creature – treating his cousin to a tenderly passionate kiss and a cradling on his breast. But Aumerle, whose riven emotional state is beautifully conveyed by Oliver Rix, turns into the production’s most extreme casualty of the world of divided loyalties. Shopped to the new king by his own father for his treacherous plots, to what desperate lengths might such a man go to prove that he’s been born again politically?
To what desperate lengths indeed. This made it virtually certain for me, and just now I read the Observer's review, which says:
The text has been tweaked to accommodate an unexpected homosexual kiss, and an unexpected (that's to say, rewritten) murderer of the king. Both are provocative and both make sense.
I rest my case. I also wonder how Aumerle's upgrading from minor character in Richard II to The Other Cousin who's responsible for Richard's demise (after getting to kiss him on stage, something I think even productions to went for some homoerotic tension between Richard and his successful rival, Cousin Henry, did not give to good old Bolingbroke) will affect the tiny but extremely well written corner of Shakespeare fanfiction. Will it continue to be rejected indignantly, or will we see Richard/Aumerle rise to rival tragic ship status by new blood, no bad pun intended, via people who get introduced to the play through this production? I mean, The Hollow Crown brought a lot of Hiddlestans to the two Henry IV plays plus Henry V, and so who knows how many David Tennant fans will get their introduction to the play here? (Not to mention the inevitable tumblr gifs as soon as that "tenderly passionate kiss" gets broadcast.)
This Yuletide might be a test case. If anyone writes killer!Aumerle, we can credit/blame the Hollow Crown folk and Gregory Doran in equal measure.
