sovay: (Claude Rains)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote 2015-05-19 05:53 am (UTC)

Wiki says, "reprising his 1936 stage role of the chief engineer in Bees on the Boatdeck" by J. B. Priestley.

Well, there are some images. That's definitely Richardson center left with the hat; the quizzical expression is unmistakeable.

He played Mercutio on Broadway to Katharine Cornell's Juliet in 1935.

That's one I want to see. So's his Bluntschli.

He was a terrible Macbeth.

It is true that I have a hard time seeing him in a role driven by that much runaway anger and ambition. Other Shakespearean villains, yes—I know there were problems when he played the part opposite Olivier's (argh) Othello, but I have always thought he would have been a very plausible Iago, smiling and smiling until all of a sudden you saw there was nothing under it. He wasn't a brute force actor. I don't think you can direct a deceptively genial Macbeth.

I really want to have seen him as Bottom and Malvolio. He should have been a very good Prospero, with that remote sense of magic, but I don't know if he was.

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting