Fool of a Took! That was an exhausting afternoon..

😎❤️

I watched this movie because of the soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton and I was not disappointed in this regard!

The event takes place at "Teatro di Imladris" 😄

Congratulations 😁

Awesome, thank you! Already voted for it 🤞

Ooh, I also read my first one this year. Had some great moments but overall didn't really convince me.. Hope you enjoy yours!

Lastly, the contemporary setting worked really well in general. It reminds me of Hytner's similar Julius Caesar (2018) – because, as Richard's usual histrionics are not given much space here, the focus of this production is once more on the frantic struggle to regain control that follows all coups.

In terms of setting "Of comfort no man speak" is especially interesting because it seems to take place in a rubbish dump or at least a part of the harbour where a lot of rubbish has accumulated - already the setting here mocks Richard's rule of England and his sad attempts do stay in power.

Therefore, despite Richard's many beautiful speeches, he did not manage to win my sympathy here (as he did in so many other productions where he was presented in a more ambiguous way), but they nevertheless managed to draw me in. "I have been studying" is the most captivating one in this production.

This clear-cut representation of Richard has the curious side effect that, for once, it is easily understandable why Bullingbrook takes the throne: because Richard has to be stopped at any cost. And Royce Pierreson does an excellent job of portraying Bullingbrook in a sympathetic way.

Richard has very few opportunities for emotionally enthralling theatrics in this production. He is mostly very quick to anger and treats nearly everyone with contempt; and only once this production slows down a little bit (by act 4) does he get some genuinely pensive moments in.

Nicholas Hytner presented Richard II totally in black and white: Richard was the terrible and ruthless king and Bullingbrook was the one who had to right his wrongs. This was really fun because I had never before seen a production where the plot was presented in such a simple, straightforward way.

Lastly, fyi for my fellow TROP fans: Nia Towle plays Ophelia in this production ;)

But: I absolutely loved the extraordinary stage design by Es Devlin. And Anton Lesser as King Hamlet/Player King was simply perfect - he had me at the very first word, and the scene with the ghost was one of the best!

The original Hamlet ending in this production is drowned out by something much bigger than the fate of a couple of people or even an entire country. Not sure if this ending would have made sense to me if I hadn't been to the Director Talk before the play..

One prominent feature of this production immediately reminded me of a similar, fascinating feature in Polly Findlay's Macbeth (2018), but I don't wanna spoil this by going into more detail :)

The new placement of To be or not to be worked really well for me, and I think everyone can interpret for themselves what this scene means - for me it was a nightmarish vision of future events, clearly precipitated by H's actions.

So yes, there are a lot of textual changes in this production, but what is "a lot" when it comes to editorial changes of Hamlet texts anyway..?