REVIEW: RICHARD II at Golden Goose Theatre 23 – 27 July 2024

‘Corporate greed and savage machinations’ ★★☆☆☆

Richard is CEO of England Enterprises. He is greedy, selfish and surrounded by lackies. When he “sacks” two of his acolytes, little does he anticipate the consequences. One – Henry Bolingbroke – comes back to usurp Richard’s “crown” with deadly consequences. 

The concept of this retelling of Shakespeare’s play was great. Set in a Wolf of Wallstreet-like corporate world, the plotting and machinations of this fourteenth century King and his court translated smoothly into the cut and thrust of ruthless big business, and the gender-blind casting worked well.  

However, this production felt like a student end of term show. The performances lacked depth and nuance. Some of the actors enunciated poorly, which made Shakespeare’s text sometimes hard to follow. The pace and tone of the direction was one note. There were weird inconsistencies too, e.g. if this was set in the modern world, why was Richard wearing an actual crown?

The saving grace was the much-needed energy the cast brought to the show. There was clever use of the minimal set, and some smart staging touches here and there. What was lacking in finesse was balanced by youthful enthusiasm. I wish the company well, but as a Shakespeare lover, this production was not for me.

Photography: Ben Copping

Richard II by William Shakespeare, Golden Goose Theatre, 23-27 July 2024, Far Between Theatre Company, https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/far-between-theatre

Reviewer: Srabani Sen

Srabani is a theatre actress and playwright. As an actress she has performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (The Globe), the Arcola, Southwark Playhouse, The Pleasance and numerous fringe theatres, in a range of roles from Shakespeare to plays by new and emerging writers. She has written several short and full length plays. Her play Tawaif was longlisted for the ETPEP Finborough award, and her play Vijaya was shortlisted for the Sultan Padamsee Playwrights Award in Mumbai.