Curns plays the hideous Richard with a surprisingly light-hearted touch, but his malevolence is soon revealed when he woos Anne Neville, Henry VI’s daughter-in-law.  Curns’s sensuality was stunningly powerful in this scene.  All the cavalier jocularity is gone. The true Richard, the one who can slither to and fro from truth to lies with total ease, is revealed.  His contemptuous flattery and sinister ruses dupe Anne and all who come in contact with him.  Impressive speeches come from this ‘lump of foul deformity,’ and he knows it, and revels in it. He’s a real rat bastard.

But this is only the beginning of Richard’s path to the throne, now occupied by his brother Edward.  Other obstacles need to be cleared.  He needs to solidify his claim upon the crown, so without a thought he has his other brother, poor, trusting George, Duke of Clarence, liquidated.  Other noblemen meet the same fate.

“We are not safe,” says Richard earlier.  Indeed not.

Read the full Shenandoah Press coverage HERE

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Written by Elizabeth Simmons, Shenandoah Press, 2.4.12

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