Dickie the Turd

Why does he wear his cap backwards, like the yoof? Other than that, Looking for Richard doesn’t pose many questions. It’s a good enough watch, and in the end you come away with a film within a film, with the very best bits of Richard III staged rather well. I liked the rapid switches between rehearsal and performance, but it would have been even more interesting, to me, if they had taken some of the no account vox pops who had nothing to say about Shakespeare and then re-recorded them after watching a rough cut of the film. Could it change the way people view Shakespeare? I doubt it. And the question of whether Americans can do Shakespeare was not really explored to any great satisfaction. (Ooops; more questions.)

My rating: 2.5 out of 5

If I’m perfectly honest, I kept thinking of the astonishing Shakespeare Sketch in Beyond the Fringe, with its perfect, perfect line: "Oh, saucy Worcester, dost thou lie so still?" In fact, I almost got up halfway through to see whether there was a clip to link to. There isn’t, as I discovered this morning. Another question: why is the script excerpt, along with lots more about Beyond the Fringe, on the web site of Paul Gross, the fine Mountie Benton Fraser in Due South?