Richard II

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon

4 Stars

Because this is the first RSC Stratford production to be filmed live and fed to cinemas and schools, director Gregory Doran has pulled out all the stops to present the clearest version of Shakespeare's history play conceivable.

A simple but strikingly beautiful set design by Stephen Brimson Lewis provides an in-depth background which readily translates from vault-arched cathedral to jousting arena to Welsh sea coast.

Throw in Britain's star actor, Dr Who's David Tennant, and you have a gift for any English teacher struggling to communicate one of the Bard's most lyrical texts.

In Shakespeare's opening play - in a sequence running through to Henry V - which sees the bloody end of medieval England, his king is a mixture of actor, philosopher and poet.

Tennant's Richard is throughout a spoilt and spiteful adolescent who, when the political chips are down, is no match in the political playground for his nemesis, Nigel Lindsay's bullet-headed bully boy of a Bolingbroke.

As his power slips away he slides into hysterical self-pity, comforting himself by playing the role of a martyred and betrayed Christ figure. He is murdered by the one figure he has shown true human sympathy for, his cousin Aumerle (Oliver Rix).

The production rejoices in supporting roles by three veteran actors making return visits to the company after many years. Jane Lapotaire turns in a powerfully moving vignette as the grieving widow of Richard's murdered uncle Gloucester while another uncle, Michael Pennington's despairing John of Gaunt, delivers his death-bed speech attacking his petulant nephew's corrupt stewardship of "this sceptred isle" with riveting passion.

Oliver Ford Davies completes the trio with his tragi-comic portrayal of the Duke of York who holds the fort when Richard takes off to play the warrior king in Ireland, leaving him to confront Bolingbroke's invading usurper

One minor atmospheric coup de theatre, which will almost certainly be lost in the cinema, is the opening of the play under full house lights as a liturgy is sung over a chattering audience until absolute silence reigns.

If the suspicion remains that overall there is something of a two-dimensional treatment in a production which tells its story straight, there is nevertheless a commanding assurance about both Doran's production and Tennant's performance.

Runs until November 16. Box office: (0844) 800-1114.