SOURCE: Isherwood, Charles. “Fiennes Plays Politics at BAM.” Variety 380, no. 5 (18-24 September 2000): 45, 47.

In the following review, Isherwood comments on the Brooklyn Academy of Music production of Richard II, directed by Jonathan Kent and starring Ralph Fiennes as Richard. Isherwood focuses on Fiennes's performance, finding that while it was “compelling,” Fiennes's portrayal of the king was silly and pompous.

It's probably just a coincidence, but the Almeida Theater Co.'s current engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music is wittily timed. As the peculiar form of theater known as election-year politics heads into its third act, the company is performing two stern Shakespearean essays on political no-no's. Coriolanus offers a lesson in the importance of pandering to public opinion (hardly a necessary admonition these days, admittedly), while Richard II warns strongly against the dangers of presuming too much on dynastic privilege—a fault attributed to both of our presidential...