Review of Ricardo II (directed by Nuno Cardoso) at the Teatro Carlos Alberto, Porto, Portugal, October–November 2007

Abstract

[Excerpt] In a programme article for this production of Ricardo II entitled ‘‘The Arrogance of the Present’’, the translator Fernando Villas-Boas notes that Portuguese productions of Shakespeare have been dogged by two interrelated prejudices. The first is the belief in the ‘‘antiquity’’ of Shakespeare’s plays and the second, an offshoot of the first, is that they therefore require ‘‘modernization’’. Villas-Boas argues instead that ‘‘the choice of any play because it is not modern seems to me to ensure more surprises, more shock-value, more doubts and therefore more theatre’’ (16). When I first read that this production was centred around actors in football kits performing on a stage adapted to resemble a football pitch, I must admit my heart sank. It seemed to be just the sort of easy modernizing gesture that Villas-Boas suggests does such a disservice to the plays. However, this totally engaging production maintained a creative tension between past and present, foregrounding the past-ness of the Shakespearean play’s language and political formations without rendering it inaccessible to present-day concerns and audiences. The Teatro Carlos Alberto (TeCa) forms part of the Teatro Nacional Sa˜o Joa˜o (TNSJ), Portugal’s second national theatre in the city of Porto. The director of Ricardo II, Nuno Cardoso, spent several years running TeCa and brought this production from Lisbon to Porto as part of an exchange agreement between Portugal’s two national theatres. Unlike the main TNSJ auditorium, the smaller theatre at TeCa is a much more intimate space and the audience is almost on top of the stage, which greatly enhanced the dramatic impact of the production. When Richard’s murderer approached the king (5.5), for instance, the audience expected the murderer to draw a sword or a dagger. Instead, a hidden revolver was taken out and fired instantaneously. The visibly surprised audience were jolted out of their seats and gasps echoed round the auditorium. [...]