RSC is always a treat when I am in fair Stratford-upon-Avon. I have seen performances I adored and performances I disliked. I could not predict what I would make of King John. I am mostly a purist when it comes to adapting Shakespeare and I heard King John was very modernised.
It was raining as I left the Shakespeare Institute. I intentionally forgot the umbrella at the guest house as I did not want to shun the English rain. I had little time for usual pottering in the foyer, so I grabbed my RSC Key ticket and ran to the Gallery.
There were balloons! They ought to burst onto the stage at some point, I thought. Something splendid seemed to be unfolding...
Pippa Nixon appeared - in colouful tights, with bright red lipstick and a guitar. She was loud, modern Englished, talking to us randomly and playing the guitar accompanied with her high-spirited singing. I laughed. I definitely was not in the early 13th century - but whatever it was, it looked like it was going to be a blast!
...The lights lit up, the cast rushed in, loud, colourful, fidgety. Blanche, blonde, so excellently portrayed by Natalie Klamar. Did Shakespeare conceive of Blanche as a modern stereotypical silly blonde? And so much perfectly modern did Shakespearean English sound from the mouth of the Spanish princess!
Blanche and Dauphin's was the most hilarious wedding I have ever witnessed, on and off stage. How much naturally gifted should a non-native director be to so gracefully and fluently combine modern posh pomp and Shakespeare's tongue! And all was to such a very appropriate music that had the audience laugh themselves into stitches with delight at this musical comedy and at the same time not hate this unimaginable interpretation of King John - but indeed nod at the very wild and brilliant adaptation. This is what the Swedish director Maria Aberg achieved.
Alex Waldmann played King John - young and so much worthy to stand on RSC's stage as an English king. Susie Trayling in a vibrant purple dress and with reddish curls as a mad Constance was noisy and chilling. Paola Dionisotti as a female Pandulph looked smart. John Stahl as Philip of France, in a trim aquamarine suit was funny and appropriate. Sandra Duncan was hilarity as a motorcyclist Lady Faulconbridge! Strangely, the boy playing Arthur is not mentioned in the "King John cast and creative" on RSC's website - he was apt and voiced, so young and so talented! They all were on the top.
Siobhan Redmond, in long emerald silky dress and with fiery head which is her gift from nature - slightly incestuous, slightly silly but snobbish, was almost an ideal grandmother to Arthur.
The Bastard. You would not make much of the character, would you, other than term him a slimy, insolent illegitimate social climber or some such? Maria Aberg unsexed him, made her a central character and what's more - had Pippa Nixon cope with this. And cope she did top-drawer. Springing onto stage as if from the street with the casualty of her outfit, the resonant powerful voice spontaneously spitting Shakespeare lines from her throat and being - this slim young actress besieged the audience. If Pippa Nixon can make so much out of such an unpleasing, neglected character and give shape to a plot Shakespeare cared not to define, I doubt not I may see her doing King Lear and Falstaff one day with suchlike dazzle!
...The lights lit off, there was confetti in the air, Pippa Nixon was singing...
With balloons, hoops, pomp, a silly blonde, slight incest and comedy, RSC's King John was an absolute delight. In a mingled play of mixed feelings and a plot that baffles a single-sentence definition, Maria Aberg's exquisite production attempted not to confirm it as a black and white historical trauma but succeeded in accentuating the very jumbled plot with physical colours and emphasised characters, turning King John into a glitter show that was incredibly likeable! Indeed, the production deserves as many stars as there were balloons! Shakespeare would have been entertained.
You can read the longer review and the full writ on Avon's stages on Talk Like Shakespeare website.
RSC's King John was on at Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from April to September 2012.