Richard III

At the website of The National Theatre the following, among other things, is written about Richard III:

"The civil war between the royal families Lancaster and York is over, and the throne belongs to King Edward IV from the house of York. But not all celebrate peace. The king's younger brother, Richard, is dissatisfied. He is duke of Gloucester, but his ambitions go higher than that. He seeks the crown for himself, and in his hunt for position and power he puts a dangerous political game in motion - a game that impresses, awakens horror and leaves a bloodbath.

If you stand in Richard's way, chances are you will be betrayed - and killed. With charm and cleverness, he seduces his way upward in the hierarchy, not dissimilar from the way a certain Frank Underwood climbs the ladder towards the presidential candidature in the TV series House of Cards. Like him, Richard shies from nothing to reach his aims, and he plays the crook with bravura. Cheated of feature by a dissembling nature, with his flaws and abnormities, he goes into the role as the terror-awakening freak people regards him to be, with full force.

With that the play is also fundamentally about standing on the outside, a motif director Kjersti Horn has treated artistically with great success at earlier occasion. In the critically acclaimed productions Night is mother to the day and Downfall the position of the outsider was presented as a vital strength - in Richard III the potentially dangerous power of being an outsider is what is in play."

The Hedda Jury gave the following reason for the award to Kåre Conradi:

"This year's winner has a multifaceted talent. He has performed assignments within musical theatre, contemporary drama and classic works, and he has proven that he masters the entire range of genres. The role he now receives the award for belongs to the classics. The award winner expands the understanding for a character that many spectators have likely thought they already knew. With nuanced presence, he shows the complex motivations behind the words. Wisely, he provides insight into human development, and into the complex influence and significance of power mechanisms, in what is one of the mightiest manipulator roles in world drama."

SOURCES:

The National Theatre, www.nationaltheatret.no, 23.04.16, http://www.nationaltheatret.no/Richard+III.b7C_wRHK0b.ips

The Hedda Award, heddaprisen.no, 12.06.2016, http://heddaprisen.no/pub/heddaprisen/main/?aid=1465

Import from the Scenekunst.no list of openings 14.12.2015

Lillian Bikset, Ordets makt (literally: The power of the word), Dagbladet February 13 2016:

"Power corrupts, the saying goes, but Richard III is about the corruption taking place prior to power. In the dialogues the growth of a terror reign is presented. In the monologues the ruthlessness behind comes through. Director Kjersti Horn and dramaturge Njål Helge Mjøs have edited Shakespeare's text to a somewhat shorter version, with emphasis on the manipulations of the power game. A singing Nils Bech adds an extra layer of psychoanalysis through melody and lyrics. (...) For Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the road to power is a game or a sport, in which the question is how far he can go and how much he can have others accept from him. Kåre Conradi shows this through giving him a downstated glee in the transgressions, a satisfaction from what he plans and what he succeeds in. A kind of joy in mastering a tool, like joy in working, released by murder and misdemeanours - like self-congratulation after a job well done. (...) How many times have Sven Haraldsson reused his stage design idea of the stage as an over dimensioned set of stairs? I have seen it thrice and know of a fourth one, all in productions directed by Kjersti Horn: Spring Awakening (Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre) 2010), Anna Karenina (Stockholm City Theatre 2011), Scorched (The National Stage last year) and now in Richard III. In the former I have seen the stairs as a metaphor for a limited room for action, for the characters, a physical demonstration of the hindrances they have to move through. This time social mobility, the possibilities for climbing and falling, comes closer to mind."

Karen Frøsland Nystøyl, Litervis med blod og bestialske drap (literally: Liters of blood and bestial killings), Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation February 15 2016:

"Richard becomes the loner who already in his opening monologue has given up all dreams save one: The one about power. He becomes the lone wolf who kills his way to top position. And in light of this is where the staging's most interesting moments exists. In a long historical drama in which one needs to keep one's thoughts untangled to separate the different families and characters, Horn lets men play women and women play men, actors play several roles at the stage at the same time, she lets them yell and scream to be heard. Everything supports the falsity society is built on, for everyone has an agenda. Everyone wants to save his or her own skin. Who is who, is of lesser importance. The actions performed are what shows which stuff we are made of. There are others than Richard who are willing to walk over dead bodies. (…) Kåre Conradi's Richard is hard to grasp, he is slippery, vulnerable and terrible. And when the play starts, it is already too late. Nobody can turn his plan. That is the saddest thing of all."