Helloooooo internet,

My husband (Jacob) and I went to the Stratford Festival last week and saw 3 shows. For you non-Canadians, Stratford is a premier theatre festival about 2.5 hours outside of Toronto. They put on, say, 10-15 shows a year (in the spring-fall), many of which are Shakespeare, but also musicals, other plays and new works. It’s also the professional birthplace of Cynthia Dale. (All hail queen Cynthia).

I was really excited to see Richard II, mostly because the two leads, Stephen Jackman-Torkoff and Emilio Vieira, are childhood friends of mine. We all starred together in Les Mis back in 2009, and I look back at that show as one of the best theatre experiences of my adolescence. This weekend was filled with overdue hugs and reminiscing, but more on that another time.

If I had one word to describe Stratford’s production of Richard II, it would be WILD.

If I had more words (and I do – it’s my blog ha), I’d go with: sexy, 70s fever dream, disco, and provocative. Our quite insightful teenage waitress at dinner Friday night described the show as “a celebration of Pride month,” and I don’t think she’s wrong.

Richard II is one of Shakespeare’s lesser known (and rarely performed) histories, and it loosely tells the story of King Richard II’s demise. I think the fact that the show is rarely put on gives the artistic team some freedom to take the show in any direction.

It’s safe to say that this is not your cookie cutter Shakespeare production. The show was adapted by Brad Fraser, who’s known for writing about the LGBTQ+ experience in 70s and 80s New York. Along with director Jillian Keiley, they took a number of artistic liberties. For example:

• They added in Shakespeare texts from other plays and sonnets.
• They introduced some original dialogue.
• They added disco party interlude scenes lead by Studio-54 inspired “angels.”
• They edited out some characters altogether; and
• Notably, they made Richard II (Stephen) and his dearest follower/cousin Lord Aumerle (Emilio) lovers.

I knew none of this going in, even though I totally should have since the marketing materials are not subtle. I just live under a rock. But alas, during intermission, I found myself googling “is there sex in Richard II?” Google was misinformed about this production.

I’m not going to lie. It was a bit weird watching my two childhood friends have fairly explicit sex on stage. Though I’ve seen Emilio since high school, the two of them were pretty much frozen in my mind as 16-year-olds. There aren’t too many sex scenes in this show, though, so I was able to get on board pretty quickly.

Of the three shows my husband and I saw this weekend, Richard II was both of our favourites, and certainly the most memorable (not just because of the friend sex thing). This show takes risks.

Crafting Richard as a queer, non-binary party king blended well with the notion of an impulsive, prideful ruler who starts to lose control. Making Richard’s most devoted follower his lover also makes sense. Shakespearean plays have been around for 500 years, and it’d get pretty boring if the same interpretations were produced all the time. I don’t loooove the idea of trying to “rewrite” Shakespeare, but I honestly wasn’t too familiar with this play, and the rewrites worked for me. None of the text felt out of place or forced, and I think the story flowed pretty nicely. If you’re a Shakespeare purist, this show may not be your cup of tea – one woman in our row walked out mid-Act I – but I think art that pushes the boundaries will, and should, be polarizing.

In terms of lead characters in the play, you’ve got Stephen as King Richard II, Emilio as his lover Lord Aumerle, the king’s main adversary Henry Bolingbroke (Jordin Hall) and his elderly father (David Collins), Aumerle’s parents (Michael Spencer-Davis and Debbie Patterson), and Richard’s wife Isabel (Hannah Wigglesworth). There are a bunch of other roles (e.g. Richard’s buddies, Bolingbroke’s buddies, Bolingbroke’s other enemy and a million dancing angels), but the ones that predominantly lead the plot are listed above.

I thought overall the caliber of acting was high, but there were two standout performances in my mind – Stephen’s Richard II and Emilio’s Aumerle (I may be a bit biased, but you’ll have to take my word on this one). They are both riveting performers, and in completely different ways. I would say they both give star-making performances, but they’re already stars, so perhaps “star-affirming” is a more apt descriptor :).

As Richard II, Stephen fully embodies this character both physically and mentally, almost existing on another celestial plane. If you know Stephen at all, this makes sense – they describe themselves in the playbill as “a wandering poet who creates their own Poetic-Dreamscape-Odysseys [and who] seek[s] to create work that activates the soul and takes us into a world of imagination. Like Willy Wonka.” Stephen is an incredibly versatile performer, expressing high highs and low lows with great ease. Stephen flows across the stage like lava from a volcano – sometimes it seems as if they’re floating. During the party scenes, Stephen dances with freedom and fluidity, becoming tall and taking up space to physicalize the power they wield. When that power has been taken away, Stephen contorts their body into a tight ball, walking slowly, hunched over and defeated. Stephen’s speech is also very fluid and natural-sounding. I found it easy to follow and believe their dialogue. In short, Stephen’s performance is beautiful, and they shine in this role.

Emilio (as Aumerle) gave an incredibly grounded, earnest, intelligent, and equally thoughtful performance. His silky smooth voice makes the Shakespearean text sound as if this is the way normal people speak all the time. His humility and honesty help ground the play – i.e., no matter how crazy things may get, Emilio’s Aumerle is familiar, and you can trust him to lead you through the actions. Emilio is also a very giving actor – at times, he lets Stephen be bold and eccentric while he may be more subtle with his choices. Subtle, but not boring. When Emilio reaches his emotional pinnacle, it is in stark contrast to his characterization of the even-tempered, dutiful lover we’ve come to know, making the tragedy of the play hit that much harder. Richard II may be the king, but Aumerle is the emotional core of the show. (Emilio also gives great hugs. Not key to his performance, but important nonetheless).

I really loved this show, and I think many of you reading this will, as well. If you’re a prude (my mom’s words) like me and sex stuff onstage makes you uncomfortable, I would encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and take a leap. I’m so glad I did.

Richard II is playing at the (gorgeous) Tom Patterson Theatre in Stratford until September 28. You can grab tickets here.

And to conclude, here are some adorable (and not at all self-indulgent) teenage photos of the three of us that still live in my heart:

Emilio seen above in his buzzcut era. I am in my beret/sweater vest era. Proof Emilio gives great hugs.

Stephen (Marius) holds me (Eponine) as I die. Stephen and Emilio sit in a similar position in Richard II, except in this play, I come out alive. So that’s a win for me.

Photo credit for featured image: Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, taken by Ted Belton (Stratford Festival website).