I've seen Rylance in three shows now, and adore the clips of his RICHARD II from his time at Shakespeare's Globe that are on YouTube (BBC4 did a live broadcast of that production, I want to say in 2004?) I've also had the good fortune of seeing a production at the Globe when I was in London a few years ago and, frankly, am almost as excited that this is that wonderful company's Broadway debut as I am for Rylance's always-welcome return. That we get two productions from them at once is icing on the cake.
As for Rylance... well, he's playing Olivia and Richard III. Simultaneously. I almost don't care if each performance is good; that's a mind-boggling feat of professional acting just to inhabit both of those diametrically opposite characters on alternating nights. Do they do them both on matinee days? Good lord what a day that must be for him...
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
