Richard Armitage Signing his Crucible Poster with what looks like
Photo of Lord Laurence Olivier in the background
Laurence Olivier, son of an Anglican minister, was claimed in his lifetime as the greatest English-speaking actor of the 20th century and the first actor to receive a life peerage, Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier.
In 1944 after serving in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm in World War II, Lord Laurence teamed with longtime friend Ralph Richardson (also a great actor, and later a knight) to revitalize the fabled Old Vic Theatre. This new phase of his career allowed Olivier to appear in an extensive repertory of Shakespearean roles of his choosing, but also allowed him to direct, though he had been doing so sporadically since the 1930s.
Olivier's Old Vic repertory company, then housed in the building today known as the Old Vic, formed the core of the National Theatre of Great Britain on its formation in 1963, under Laurence Olivier. The National Theatre stayed at the Old Vic until the new National Theater building we know today was constructed on the South Bank in 1976.
As a fan, or well-wisher, or supporter, whatever we want to call ourselves, of Richard Armitage for a few years now, I have to wonder what this moment is like for him personally. How does he feel to see his name above the title and to be at the Old Vic, knowing the history of this theater, and the legendary actors, like Laurence Olivier, who came before him.
(Sources: Britannica.com, Rob Wilton's Theatricalia, Wikipedia, The Old Vic)
Shakespeare is in the air for Armitage fans this month since the release of the wonderful audiobook Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel by A.J. Hartley and David Hewson and narrated by our versatile and amazingly talented Richard Armitage.
So as I slowly savor this wonderful audiobook and Richard's one man audio theater company, I've been thinking of my own introduction to Shakespeare.
I first became aware of Shakespeare's work through the films of Laurence Olivier, one of my mother's favorite actors. Now my mother's native language was not English but Spanish and as a very young woman she first saw Olivier's films, including his Shakespeare films, in our native country. When we came to live in the United States many, many, years later, she would always say to people who were speaking to her too fast in English for her to fully understand "speak to me as a Shakespearean actor" because that way of speaking English she could fully understand. (Of course, since we lived in the U.S., this was often seen as a very strange request! But that's another story, LOL.)
By the time I came around, and was old enough to watch and somewhat understand these films, they were on television. Now in those TV days of the 60's and 70's we didn't have cable, or even the technology to record and watch VHS tapes, we had to wait for these movies to be schedule for viewing on one of the three or four channels we had (sometimes less). Luckily for my childhood classic films were very popular on afternoon television for many years.
Whenever any Olivier films were on, my mother would watch religiously, and I along with her of course. I think I probably saw these films as a baby, and somehow through my childhood slowly absorbed them until I was old enough to view them on my own and understand and appreciate them fully.
Later I read some of the plays at school, Hamlet of course among them. I have the collected plays in two or three volumes at home, but I confess not having read all of them, and not having looked at them for years. Throughout my life I have been lucky to see many Shakespeare plays, dramas and comedies, on stage, including our wonderful Shakespeare Theater here in DC.
But whenever I think of Shakespeare and his plays I always first think of Olivier's films. To this day they remain favorite film versions of Hamlet, Henry V, and Richard III.
Laurence Olivier directed and acted in all three, filmed in the 40's and 50's. After several successful films in Hollywood, Olivier was approached by investors to bring Shakespeare to film audiences and the result were these three movies, filmed in three different styles.
Henry V is interesting to me in the way Olivier approaches the play for film, because he goes back and forth between the play being performed on a theater stage, and the "real" action taking place in the palaces and battlefields in England and France. It was also filmed at the end of World War II with England still at war. My favorite of the films is Hamlet, filmed in black and white, in a "Scandinavian modern" style, and who can ever forget Olivier as Richard III.
Below are my favorite moments and soliloquies from the films.
Henry V (1944)
Hamlet (1948)
Richard III (1955)
You can probably find all three films online or on YouTube.
It is believed that Shakespeare wrote Richard III between 1592-1594. It was first printed as a quarto in 1597. It is believed that Shakespeare based the character of his Richard III on Sir Thomas More’s historical work about Richard III’s reign.. More was a small child during the Richard’s reign. His negative view of Richard III’s is believed to have been influenced by Cardinal Morton, in whose household he lived.
There’s quite a long and involved story of Morton’s roe in the War of the Roses. In very brief summary, he was a supporter of the Lancastrian faction during the war, but eventually after the final Lancastrian defeat, made his peace with Edward IV. When Edward died and his younger brother, Richard III, took the throne, he had Morton arrested and placed in the Tower of London. Morton later escaped and eventually joined the court of Henry Tudor (Henry VII) in Flanders, assisting the Tudors in their plan to usurp the throne from Richard. Henry VII (Tudor) just happened to be Elizabeth I’s (the monarch during Shakespeare’s life) grandfather. The rest , as they say, is history.
Morton (Bishop of Ely) appears in Shakespeare’s Richard III ( Duke of Gloucester) in a scene that is taken from Sir Thomas More’s biography. Here’s the brief scene as it appears in the play:
Duke of Gloucester. My lord of Ely!
John Morton. My lord
Duke of Gloucester. When I was last in Holborn,
I saw good strawberries in your garden there
I do beseech you send for some of them.
John Morton. Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart.
(stage directions). [Re-enter BISHOP OF ELY]
John Morton. Where is my lord protector? I have sent for these
strawberries.
Shakespeare of course was not writing history but a play. He needed to create a character that would grab an audience. What better way to reel them in than to create an ultimate villain, a man who oozed evil from every pore and every soliloquy:
“In Richard III, Shakespeare invites us on a moral holiday. The early part of the play draws its readers to identify with Richard and thereby to participate in a fantasy of total control of self and domination of others. We begin to be pulled into the fantasy in the play's opening speech, where Richard presents himself as an enterprising, self-made villain and offers an elaborate justification for this self-renovation.” (Folger Shakespeare Library Website)
The Early Players – Actors and Richard III
Richard Burbage (1568-1619) was the first actor to play Richard III in Shakespeare’s play . By the age of 20 he was already considered one of the greatest actors of his generation. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he was the mega star of the Elizabethan era. He was known for totally transforming himself into the roles he played on stage (reminds me of another Richard). Burbage played the lead role in the first performance of many of Shakespeare’s plays. He continued acting until his death in 1619.
David Garrick as Richard III
David Garrick (1716-1779) was an actor, playwright, and theatrical manager. He wrote his first play in 1740 and made his acting debut as Richard III in Shakespeare’s play. It was his portrayal of Richard III that made him a star. Contemporary anecdotes about Garrick mention his mobility and his ability to transform himself at will. But his most irresistible feature were his piercing eyes. (Piercing eyes, wonder what other actor fits that description?).
Edmund Kean as Richard III
Edmund Kean (1789-1833) was considered the most electrifying actor on the English stage. He was also known for his personal eccentricities, including having a tame lion he often played with in his living room. In 1820 Kean appeared in New York for the first time as Richard III to great success. Below is a video of Ben Kingsley in a one man play based on Kean’s life and career:
Shakespeare’s Richard III goes from Drama to Reality:
The image of Richard III from Shakespeare’s play, the “deformed” and evil monarch, became the public image of this man. There is no historical proof that Richard was a hunchback or had any physical impairment, yet that image from the stage survives today. Several references date this universal public perception of Richard as a tyrant from the 16th century on.
Below are two videos that I think illustrate how the theatrical King Richard has become the popular image.
In 1996 Al Pacino made a very interesting and fun documentary, “Looking for Richard”, about his preparation for playing Richard III on stage. He interviews several generation of actors that have played the part on stage, but he also goes out into the streets and talks to New Yorkers about the king. At one point in this clip he asks people on the street what they know about Richard III, and all answer they don’t know who he is (this is the US of course), until he uses a famous quote from the play, and of course, that they know!
For anyone born after 1955 the image of Richard III is the image of Laurence Olivier. Even for those that have never seen Olivier’s film of the play have seen a photo or a film clip sometime, somewhere. Here’s an example of how that image has been used for comic effect. In this video clip Peter Sellers performs a well known text as Olivier’s Richard III (and you might recognize a couple of other guys in the clip.)
William Shakespeare’s Histories, the ten plays he wrote dealing with English history, have gone from dramatic fiction to historical truth in the public mind. Shakespeare’s Richard III has provided actors for centuries with an opportunity to outshine each other in making the man more and more physically impaired and spiritually malevolent, but now, in our time, it is time to bring the real story and history of Richard to the screen.
Richard Armitage is turning 40!
What to get the man who insists he already has everything?
More work for our favorite workaholic.
Since watching his acting gives us so much delicious fantasy fulfillment, we thought we’d turn the tables with a fantasy present: the job that he’s most repeatedly expressed interest in doing — a retelling of the Richard III story.
We’re not agents or producers, and we can’t finance this project or cast him in it or write the scripts, so we’re doing the next best thing: a week of background, context, musings, and jokes about why we’re dying to see “our” Richard play “that” Richard.
Want to share the fantasy more actively? Sign the manifesto:
