Stratford Festival Reviews

"There's a menacing element to McKenna's Richard that's downright unnerving. When he hobbles by a group of bystanders he stares one down like a wide-eyed gangster in a prison yard. It's uncomfortable and makes him feel unpredictable."

2 1/2 Stars: "...there is a pleasing, extra level of irony added to certain lines, as when Richard tells his brother Clarence, who is being sent off to the Tower by his own scheming, that their sister-in-law, the king's wife, is to blame: “Why, this it is, when men are ...

4 Stars: "McKenna ultimately demonstrates more than enough steel to prove this to be far more than mere stunt casting...But given a magnificent production, instead of this fancy-dress war horse designed by Peter Hartwell, and placed in the hands of a director of sweeping vision, she could have created a ...

" After all, doesn’t evil transcend gender or sexual orientation?
...It’s an intriguing goal. That she rises to the challenge without declaring victory is not a slight on her acting abilities....McKenna’s problems are due in large part to the absence of an overall concept on the part of Potter."

3 Stars: First impression review, to be followed up shortly with a full analysis. "The first half is excellent, schadenfreude-filled fun...Potter’s production ultimately favours clarity over flavour – and the gasping ghosts of Richard's victims at the end don’t have the haunting effect no doubt intended...."

1 1/2 Stars: "...the most disappointing part about Miles Potter's production...is that — having apparently used up all his imagination coming up with the central concept of having Richard played by a woman—he then proceeded to do so little with it...Potter stages scene after scene without a scrap of invention"