STAGE REVIEW Twelfth Night
9 / 10
Rylance plays the humpbacked and murderous conniver Richard III with much the same comic brio — he pats his shriveled (fake) baby hand when he speaks of being 'rudely stamp'd' and 'not shaped for sportive tricks,' then during his coronation flashes both thumbs up and whips his oversize cape about in childlike triumph. His Richard, while consistently entertaining, throws the play's more tragic elements somewhat off-balance, particularly in the many (more serious) scenes when he's off stage. Still, Rylance exquisitely manages Richard's tricky seduction of Lady Anne (Joseph Timms), whose husband and father-in-law he has killed. And there's a delicious crackle to the late scenes with Barnett's Queen Elizabeth, who responds to Richard's entreaties to woo her own daughter with a bold and surprising response. (No spoilers here.)
