here The shocker is that Richard Armitage informs that his collaboration with Yaël Farber for the London stage next year is Shakespeare – and not Oedipus-Antigone. Wow. Well. Which? Lot of fans would like to Richard III. I imagine some, like me, are praying it isn’t King Lear – so whaddaya think? As to the rest of the interview . . .
More of the same as in previous interviews. A complete mishmash over his character and whether he is or isn’t violent or a villain. And, a quite obvious mistake, or maybe an error in the transcription, but he claims that Robin Hood took place later than Pilgrimage. Not possible. Richard I ( the Lionhearted) was King during Robin Hood. Prince John was a baddie. But that same Prince John is the King during Pilgrimage. Oh well. This came up in his answer in which he says he never played a role in that period – I guess three years on RH didn’t count.
Anyway, I give him leeway where possible in these interviews – especially those at he end of the cycle, because it’s amazing that he’s even able to come up with some fresh material.
Armitage Agonistes 
Speaking from professional bruising (I mean, experience), chronology is the part of history that the average person finds most difficult to keep in order (let alone comparative chronology — what’s going on over here while that other thing is going on over there). It always surprises me, but students have a really hard time with it and (interestingly) also with the idea that causality is arranged chronologically — that an event can only be caused by a preceding event, not by a subsequent one. I’ve wondered for a long time if this is why history instruction focused for centuries on storytelling — because it was easier to keep the logic of a story together than it was to master chronology.
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I suppose he has some personal issues forcing him to quit OtA project. Or a huge role, with schedule clashing. Not fond of Shakespeare so not very interested in anything he and Farber can do. Please NO RIII.
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Was he ever confirmed for the OtA project?
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No, but there were several rather aggressive hints, not just from him.
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and: nothing’s confirmed for that project, no cast, no venue. Just that the production company wanted to do it as their second show in the season.
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gotcha. I had wondered if I had missed something official.
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No. Based on him saying his next Yael Farber collaboration was a “very very” ancient play ( something like that), for while we thought it might be her Bacchus play – that never opened in S.A. for the first time. Then when O-A was announced, we made educated guesses that would be it.
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they tweeted Oedipus quotes at each other, too, and the play producer liked a fan tweet about him being that play, and I think there was something else, too. I know I wrote all the evidence down in a blog comment somewhere but am not finding it now.
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I thought the dates we knew for Farber project were what we he hinted at – roughly – but I’m not sure. It does seem that at some time he anticipated a classic with YF.
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Sorry for “reinforcing” your comment – it didn’t show up in my on screen notifications until I answered and then refreshed.
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I would welcome any Shakespeare role for Richard. How about one of the comedies? In any case, lots of good info in that interview–his interest in doing an SF project, how much he liked Dunkirk.
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