Reviews of Gareth Richards
Here are some of the reviews I have received for my theatre work.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (2016) Arena Theatre
"...a funnier, more manic evening would be hard to find...
The fact that the theatre was completely full says much for Arena’s reputation in this area, and Paul Nelson’s frantically-paced production can only have further enhanced it. Part play, part revue and with that ‘fourth wall’ non-existent since the audience is frequently drawn into the action, actors Simon Meredith, Gareth Richards and Grae Westgate were outstanding and did themselves, and the script, proud...
...there were so many laugh-out-loud moments that I began to feel quite weak...It just got more and more manic, with this brilliant evening ending with a final, fast (42 seconds, I think) performance of Hamlet, spoken backwards."
Source: www.sceneone.biz
The Tempest (2015) Brownsea Open-Air Theatre
"Gareth Richards had all the complexity that Prospero needs, and his relationship with his daughter was entirely convincing in all its layers."
Source: Fine Times Recorder
"Gareth Richards might have been born to play the majestic Prospero, so well does he inhabit the role, and there is a stillness and gentleness at the root of his character that seems to emphasise his absolute command."
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"Gareth Richards had all the complexity that Prospero needs, and his relationship with his daughter was entirely convincing in all its layers."
Source: Fine Times Recorder
"Gareth Richards might have been born to play the majestic Prospero, so well does he inhabit the role, and there is a stillness and gentleness at the root of his character that seems to emphasise his absolute command."
Source: www.sceneone.biz
Macbeth (2014) Arena Theatre
"Of Shakespeare’s four great tragedies, ‘Macbeth’ is the rawest. There are villains enough in ‘Hamlet’, ‘Othello’ and ‘Lear’, but only ‘Macbeth’ has the intensity to send you reeling from the theatre at the sheer evil it portrays. But it is a latent force that has to be brought out by the acting and direction, and the spellbound audience in the Mowlem was proof that this production had done justice to what in the opinion of many is Shakespeare’s most powerful play.
It is a play that has attracted more than its share of gimmicks, but this production largely plays it straight, on a plain but sinister set and in simple but effective costumes. It is with the three witches that director Gareth Richards has taken successful liberties. One example is that Lady Macbeth is on stage for their re-assurance to Macbeth that no man born of woman will harm him; she even speaks some of the lines, which works surprisingly well. Another is that in ‘Is this a dagger’, Macbeth is drawn round the stage by a dagger held by one of the witches; it is less surprising that this works well as it is a difficult speech to stage convincingly. After Banquo is murdered, it is the witches who come and lift him up and escort him off-stage, which is in supernatural keeping with his next appearance as a ghost.
We first see Macbeth in all his virile glory, fresh from triumph in battle, and it is violence, anger and the need to be the alpha male that are uppermost in Paul Mole’s interpretation of the part. This is consistent with Macbeth’s ruthlessness – his murder of Macduff’s daughter is genuinely shocking – but Shakespeare wrote a more complex character than that. It was not easy to believe his qualms about murdering Duncan early in the play, and I was intrigued to see how Paul Mole would square his interpretation with ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’. He did the speech full of suppressed anger, which is certainly plausible, but it surely works better as an almost wistful realisation that all his atrocities have ultimately been meaningless. Paul Mole missed the shred of decency that exists somewhere very deep down in the character and which, despite appearances, is not totally destroyed by being ‘in blood stepp’d in so far’.
Lady Macbeth has no such redeeming feature. Joanne Owen conveys her pure evil in an outstanding performance. Her ‘unsex me here’ speech is spine-chilling and one can all too easily imagine her plucking her nipple from her baby’s boneless gums and dashing its brains out, but she is equally good later in the play as a sleep-walking wreck.
For much of the play, Chris Vessey’s interpretation of Macduff is an interesting doppelganger of Macbeth’s violent virility, which is entirely logical, but he conveys a greater range, as in his genuinely moving reaction to the news of the murder of ‘all his pretty chickens and their dam’. Other performances that caught the eye came from David Weeks (Duncan) and Sean Beaumont (Banquo), both of whom, like Joanne Owen, have a good ear for Shakespearean blank verse, Scott Sullivan as a confident Ross, Tim Wallace-Abbot as a splendidly earthy Porter, Ignatius Harling as First Murderer and Rory Moncaster, who grew in stature as Malcolm.
The comparison is not exact, but rather as Broadway shows used to try out in the provinces first, so this Swanage performance was a forerunner of the play’s main run, at the Shelley Theatre in Bournemouth from 3 to 5 April. It is worth putting in your diary now."
- Jon Newth
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"I love all Shakespeare plays but Macbeth is one of my favourites, therefore I know it inside out. This production by Director Gareth Richards is one of the blackest that I have seen or been involved with, which is no mean feat given that it is already very dark. Some of the script changes worked well while others did not.
The simple setting was just right and the costumes enhanced the production. I particularly liked the witches costumes as they were very different to the ‘normal’ way they are portrayed.
Paul Mole as Macbeth did a good job with a difficult part but I would have liked to see more of the man who really had misgivings about murdering Duncan, which was played most ably by David Weeks. The tomorrow and tomorrow speech gave me some misgivings as I did not feel it portrayed the true emotion that Macbeth felt on the death of his wife.
There were some notably excellent performances - Sean Beaumont as Banquo, all three witches, Joanna Dunbar, Bethany Harris, and Rachael Cheeseman, Scott Sullivan as Ross and Alanis Gash and Nathan Gash as the children of McDuff.
The scene that moved me the most was between Malcolm (Rory Moncaster) and McDuff (Chris Vessey). This was played with all sincerity and the reaction by McDuff on the murder of his children was quite chilling.
However the performance of the evening for me was Joanne Owen as Lady Macbeth. It was here that the script and scene changes worked the best and I could believe that she was evil personified.
Gareth Richards should be delighted with his cast – they did him proud."- Lyn Richell
Source: https://www.facebook.com/theatrereviews
"Of Shakespeare’s four great tragedies, ‘Macbeth’ is the rawest. There are villains enough in ‘Hamlet’, ‘Othello’ and ‘Lear’, but only ‘Macbeth’ has the intensity to send you reeling from the theatre at the sheer evil it portrays. But it is a latent force that has to be brought out by the acting and direction, and the spellbound audience in the Mowlem was proof that this production had done justice to what in the opinion of many is Shakespeare’s most powerful play.
It is a play that has attracted more than its share of gimmicks, but this production largely plays it straight, on a plain but sinister set and in simple but effective costumes. It is with the three witches that director Gareth Richards has taken successful liberties. One example is that Lady Macbeth is on stage for their re-assurance to Macbeth that no man born of woman will harm him; she even speaks some of the lines, which works surprisingly well. Another is that in ‘Is this a dagger’, Macbeth is drawn round the stage by a dagger held by one of the witches; it is less surprising that this works well as it is a difficult speech to stage convincingly. After Banquo is murdered, it is the witches who come and lift him up and escort him off-stage, which is in supernatural keeping with his next appearance as a ghost.
We first see Macbeth in all his virile glory, fresh from triumph in battle, and it is violence, anger and the need to be the alpha male that are uppermost in Paul Mole’s interpretation of the part. This is consistent with Macbeth’s ruthlessness – his murder of Macduff’s daughter is genuinely shocking – but Shakespeare wrote a more complex character than that. It was not easy to believe his qualms about murdering Duncan early in the play, and I was intrigued to see how Paul Mole would square his interpretation with ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’. He did the speech full of suppressed anger, which is certainly plausible, but it surely works better as an almost wistful realisation that all his atrocities have ultimately been meaningless. Paul Mole missed the shred of decency that exists somewhere very deep down in the character and which, despite appearances, is not totally destroyed by being ‘in blood stepp’d in so far’.
Lady Macbeth has no such redeeming feature. Joanne Owen conveys her pure evil in an outstanding performance. Her ‘unsex me here’ speech is spine-chilling and one can all too easily imagine her plucking her nipple from her baby’s boneless gums and dashing its brains out, but she is equally good later in the play as a sleep-walking wreck.
For much of the play, Chris Vessey’s interpretation of Macduff is an interesting doppelganger of Macbeth’s violent virility, which is entirely logical, but he conveys a greater range, as in his genuinely moving reaction to the news of the murder of ‘all his pretty chickens and their dam’. Other performances that caught the eye came from David Weeks (Duncan) and Sean Beaumont (Banquo), both of whom, like Joanne Owen, have a good ear for Shakespearean blank verse, Scott Sullivan as a confident Ross, Tim Wallace-Abbot as a splendidly earthy Porter, Ignatius Harling as First Murderer and Rory Moncaster, who grew in stature as Malcolm.
The comparison is not exact, but rather as Broadway shows used to try out in the provinces first, so this Swanage performance was a forerunner of the play’s main run, at the Shelley Theatre in Bournemouth from 3 to 5 April. It is worth putting in your diary now."
- Jon Newth
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"I love all Shakespeare plays but Macbeth is one of my favourites, therefore I know it inside out. This production by Director Gareth Richards is one of the blackest that I have seen or been involved with, which is no mean feat given that it is already very dark. Some of the script changes worked well while others did not.
The simple setting was just right and the costumes enhanced the production. I particularly liked the witches costumes as they were very different to the ‘normal’ way they are portrayed.
Paul Mole as Macbeth did a good job with a difficult part but I would have liked to see more of the man who really had misgivings about murdering Duncan, which was played most ably by David Weeks. The tomorrow and tomorrow speech gave me some misgivings as I did not feel it portrayed the true emotion that Macbeth felt on the death of his wife.
There were some notably excellent performances - Sean Beaumont as Banquo, all three witches, Joanna Dunbar, Bethany Harris, and Rachael Cheeseman, Scott Sullivan as Ross and Alanis Gash and Nathan Gash as the children of McDuff.
The scene that moved me the most was between Malcolm (Rory Moncaster) and McDuff (Chris Vessey). This was played with all sincerity and the reaction by McDuff on the murder of his children was quite chilling.
However the performance of the evening for me was Joanne Owen as Lady Macbeth. It was here that the script and scene changes worked the best and I could believe that she was evil personified.
Gareth Richards should be delighted with his cast – they did him proud."- Lyn Richell
Source: https://www.facebook.com/theatrereviews
All My Sons (2015) Arena Theatre
"There are superb performances particularly from Ellison as the ostensibly successful and devoted family man thriving in a post war America he no longer understands and living with the knowledge that his past can at any moment completely destroy his world. There is strong support from Folan, Lindell and Hawkins while Gareth Richards and Lotte Fletcher-Jonk as neighbours Dr Jim Bayliss and his wife Sue also deserve a special mention. "
Source: Do More Magazine
"There are superb performances particularly from Ellison as the ostensibly successful and devoted family man thriving in a post war America he no longer understands and living with the knowledge that his past can at any moment completely destroy his world. There is strong support from Folan, Lindell and Hawkins while Gareth Richards and Lotte Fletcher-Jonk as neighbours Dr Jim Bayliss and his wife Sue also deserve a special mention. "
Source: Do More Magazine
The 39 Steps (2011) Arena Theatre
"Everything was huge fun and as slick as it gets, while the four-strong cast...were absolutely outstanding, with all except Sean playing a variety of roles in an equal variety of accents."
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"The timing was impeccable and performed exactly for the right effect, this takes enormous skill and technique which this company has in buckets. Everyone was excellent and I really could not pick out one performance over another. How Gareth Richards and Scot Sullivan managed to get each part they played completely separate was a sight to behold."
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo
"Everything was huge fun and as slick as it gets, while the four-strong cast...were absolutely outstanding, with all except Sean playing a variety of roles in an equal variety of accents."
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"The timing was impeccable and performed exactly for the right effect, this takes enormous skill and technique which this company has in buckets. Everyone was excellent and I really could not pick out one performance over another. How Gareth Richards and Scot Sullivan managed to get each part they played completely separate was a sight to behold."
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo
The Crucible (2010) Regent Rep
"the performances of Gareth Richards and Tracey Challen as John and Elizabeth Proctor are truly heart-rending"
Source: Source:www.sceneone.biz
"a towering performance by Gareth Richards"
Source: Stour & Avon Magazine
"the performances of Gareth Richards and Tracey Challen as John and Elizabeth Proctor are truly heart-rending"
Source: Source:www.sceneone.biz
"a towering performance by Gareth Richards"
Source: Stour & Avon Magazine
Jamaica Inn (2009) Regent Rep
"a finer production would be difficult to imagine - its horrific realism sent chills down my spine...Gareth Richards is the best I have ever seen him as the evil, vicious Joss Merlyn, landlord of Jamaica Inn"
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"a finer production would be difficult to imagine - its horrific realism sent chills down my spine...Gareth Richards is the best I have ever seen him as the evil, vicious Joss Merlyn, landlord of Jamaica Inn"
Source: www.sceneone.biz
Blue Remembered Hills (2011) Arena Theatre
"several times I actually forgot I was watching adults playing children...easily one of the best local drama performances I have seen in a long time"
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"several times I actually forgot I was watching adults playing children...easily one of the best local drama performances I have seen in a long time"
Source: www.sceneone.biz
Art (2009) Arena Theatre
"Three brilliant, powerful performances ensured that, where Arena’s reputation is concerned, there is no necessity for arguments or false assumptions"
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"Three brilliant, powerful performances ensured that, where Arena’s reputation is concerned, there is no necessity for arguments or false assumptions"
Source: www.sceneone.biz
The Wind in the Willows (2005) Arena Theatre
"Also particularly noticeable is Gareth Richards, who not only makes a great job of directing but also creates a memorable cameo as Albert, a brummie-accented horse"
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo
"Also particularly noticeable is Gareth Richards, who not only makes a great job of directing but also creates a memorable cameo as Albert, a brummie-accented horse"
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo
Fools (2001) Arena Theatre
"full of joie de vivre...outstanding"
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo - Nominated, Best Actor in a Comedy
"full of joie de vivre...outstanding"
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo - Nominated, Best Actor in a Comedy
James & The Giant Peach (2006) Arena Theatre
"just like one would imagine from the original story. Gareth Richards, in particular, makes a great impression as Centipede"
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo
"just like one would imagine from the original story. Gareth Richards, in particular, makes a great impression as Centipede"
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo
A Midsummer Night's Dream (2007) Arena Theatre
"hugely energetic, fast-paced, fun and noisy...Arena is very highly regarded by those in the know, and this production can only serve to enhance their reputation. "
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"hugely energetic, fast-paced, fun and noisy...Arena is very highly regarded by those in the know, and this production can only serve to enhance their reputation. "
Source: www.sceneone.biz
The Importance of Being Earnest (1997) Big Little Theatre Company
"the acting, without exception, was absolutely superb...Gareth Richards excelled as Algernon Moncrieff"
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo
"the acting, without exception, was absolutely superb...Gareth Richards excelled as Algernon Moncrieff"
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo
The Merchant of Venice (2008) Brownsea Open-Air Theatre
"the overall standard of the production is so high that the use of the word ‘amateur’ seems almost like an insult"
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"the overall standard of the production is so high that the use of the word ‘amateur’ seems almost like an insult"
Source: www.sceneone.biz
Hamlet (1998) Bournemouth Shakespeare Players
"Gareth Richards breathes fire and impressively brandishes his sword as the grief-stricken Laertes"
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo
(this was the show I nearly lost an eye in. Not my sword-brandishing skills to blame, I hasten to add)
"Gareth Richards breathes fire and impressively brandishes his sword as the grief-stricken Laertes"
Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo
(this was the show I nearly lost an eye in. Not my sword-brandishing skills to blame, I hasten to add)
Rhinoceros (2009) Arena Theatre
"Gareth Richards’ production dragged a little in the opening scene but soon picked up pace as it went on its ever more bizarre way, with quadraphonic sound making it feel as if that herd might burst in at any moment."
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"Gareth Richards’ production dragged a little in the opening scene but soon picked up pace as it went on its ever more bizarre way, with quadraphonic sound making it feel as if that herd might burst in at any moment."
Source: www.sceneone.biz
Cold Comfort Farm (2011) Regent Rep
"Quivering Brethren, [who] were a joy to watch. Each one had a unique personality of his own, conveyed through wonderful body language."
Source: www.sceneone.biz
"Quivering Brethren, [who] were a joy to watch. Each one had a unique personality of his own, conveyed through wonderful body language."
Source: www.sceneone.biz
