The title of hottest ticket, or rather, tickets this PIAF truly belongs to the larger than life epic piece of theatre that is The War of the Roses. This show is so big it spans two evenings and is comprised of four acts all wrapped up in a total of seven hours in length. But that’s not all! The show literally covers 100 years of history as it examines the tyrannical reign of the English monarchy from the fall of Richard II to the nightmarish rule of Richard III… and everything in-between.
One of the driving forces behind the production is internationally lauded director Benedict Andrews, who has brought this saga to life along with Sydney Theatre Company’s Associate Director Tom Wright. The pair have adapted four of Shakespeare’s works to create one monolithic piece.
‘The War of the Roses condenses a dense and uneven series of plays into an unfolding staging of history in four movements, from the luminous rhetoric of Richard II through the perpetual war of the Henry plays and into the birth of the exquisite monster Richard III’ said Benedict Andrews of the nature of The War of the Roses. ‘The cycle charts the dream of sovereignty, the machinations of power, the violent demands of the crown. The cycle displays the engine of history as a machine of bloody slaughter, addiction, conspiracy, illegitimacy, blood feuds, interbreeding, and generational warfare. The cycle is staged in four distinct, deliberate movements, four stages of history. Each of which offers a development of the idea of the relationships between sovereign and subject, state and violence, language and the body. Each play and each staging is cut in order to concentrate on the problem and poetics of a particular king.’
In effect, The War of the Roses does not water down or spare the drama that is Shakespeare’s ‘history plays’. What it does do, however, is bring together these projects – which were all written at different times in Shakespeare’s career – and present them in chronological order.
‘Our version is a condensation of the eight plays into four distinct acts,’ explained Andrews. ‘Each act clearly tells the story of a particular reign: i) the fall of Richard II; ii) the troubled reign of Henry IV and the rise of his son Hal; iii) the disrupted reign of the child Henry VI and the collapse of the kingdom into civil war; iv) the nightmarish rule of Richard III. Over the course of the cycle, we chart the development, decline and decay of a civilization. We see the collapse of a decadent doomed society, a wounded kingdom, a nightmare of history, and a landscape of death…’
It may sound like a heavy toll, but is nowhere near as heavy as the process which led Andrews and STC’s Wright to write The War of the Roses. ‘It was a lengthy and rigorous process taking the better part of a year,’ Andrews said of the process involved in adapting Shakespeare into The War of the Roses. ‘It began with the task of condensing the plays. Tom Wright and I edited the plays into the four acts and we eventually read the versions with the ensemble during a workshop week. This gave us a blueprint to begin rehearsals with. The text edit continued to evolve during the nearly 3 and a half month rehearsal process. The main work of the adaptation, of course, was the work with the actors in the rehearsal room – bringing the poem onto their tongues, the play into their bodies… creating a world together onstage.’
At its crux, The War of the Roses deals with power or, as Andrews stated, ‘its allure, its manipulation, its excision; the relationship of sovereign power to language and to violence’. And there’s no more powerful woman in Australian theatre at the moment than Cate Blanchett, who plays both Richard II and Lady Anne in this audacious production.
‘Her Richard II is lyrical and dazzling,’ Andrews gushed of Blanchett’s performance. Very playful, exceptionally witty. Cate brings a vulnerability, dignity, and fierce intelligence to her playing. She embodies this king’s fragility, elegance and dangerous self destruction.’
Blanchett is joined by Robert Menzies as Henry IV, Ewen Lesile as Hal/Henry V, John Gaden as Falstaff, Marta Dusseldorp as Queen Margaret, Eden Falk as Henry VI, and Pamela Rabe as Richard III. It is the final production from STC Actors Company, which has been a three year experiment which has seen the best in Australian theatre come together to create something truly unique.
The War of the Roses is an opportunity for WA audiences to challenge themselves and experience the results of ambitious collaboration.
‘An epic piece of theatre can be a rare, precious experience for an audience,’ Andrews explained. ‘It is a chance to spend longer than accustomed being told a story. It carries a special sense of time, duration, and imagination. It makes demands of both performers and audiences.’
The War of the Roses runs until March 12 at His Majesty’s Theatre. www.bocsticketing.com.au
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
