Richard

Richard feels wronged by life. He is narcissistic by nature, his ambition boundless. From the very first scene, he makes it abundantly clear how he intends to seize power: ruthlessly and dehumanizingly. He manipulates, lies and deceives. He flatters his enemies into becoming his allies. He has his own brother murdered. After the king’s death, he makes the king’s two young sons disappear. Richard is a master of his craft — until cracks begin to appear in his regime, allies turn away, and the ghosts of his victims confront him with what he has done.

A ruler cannot exist without those he oppresses. We know the names of tyrants, we follow their strategies, we analyse their lies. But the voices of those who suffer under their rule fade into the margins. In Richard, this imbalance is redressed. As Richard tightens his grip on power, the life of a woman in occupied territory unfolds.

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A woman who wants nothing more than to live — to live on the land where she was born, surrounded by those she loves. A woman who continues to love and to dream despite the violence inflicted upon her. Those in power do not even acknowledge her existence. They push her aside without remorse, deny her, ignore her, erase her.

Richard lays bare a pain we see all too seldom. Not the pain of the ruler who falls from power, but the quiet, everyday pain of those who must struggle to survive under his rule.

Shakespeare wrote Richard III around 1593, yet the story of reckless and ruthless leaders is timeless. The words Richard speaks sound disturbingly familiar, echoes of the power-hungry figures who dominate today’s world news. Shakespeare grasped the essence of what drives such rulers: criminal ambition, lies, the relentless desire to seize and hold on to power at any cost, and ultimately, the willingness to kill for personal gain.

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By placing a woman living under occupation alongside Richard, Zandwijk and Lenshoek firmly situate this story in the present day. “It is vital to make space not only for the voices of totalitarian leaders, but also for a human voice,” the creators state. “A voice that allows us to feel what it means to be a victim of these leaders’ hunger for power.”

Alize Zandwijk is one of the Netherlands’ most engaged theatre-makers. Her work can be described as anti-elitist, raw and gripping. Characterised by a strong physical style, live music and scenes that at times verge on dance theatre. She shows deep compassion for those at the bottom of society, portraying them with humour, imagination and an unpolished honesty.

Zandwijk studied at the Academie voor Expressie door Woord en Gebaar in Kampen. In 1998, together with Guy Cassiers, she formed the artistic leadership of the Ro Theater in Rotterdam, for which they jointly received the Albert van Dalsum Award. From 2006 to 2016, Zandwijk served as the company’s artistic director. Over eighteen years, she created thirty-eight productions, including Nachtasiel, Dood van een Handelsreiziger, Branden en Onschuld. She introduced the work of Wajdi Mouawad in the Netherlands and was invited with her productions to the Edinburgh International Festival, Wiener Festwochen and Theaterformen in Hanover.

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In 1997, she was awarded the Proscenium Award, one of the most prestigious theatre prizes in the Netherlands. Since 2016, Zandwijk has been Lead Director at Theater Bremen, where she received the Kurt Hübner Prize in 2020 for her artistic achievements.

In the 2022/23 season, she created Birds of a Kind by Wajdi Mouawad with the ITA Ensemble; a musical and poetic production about war, identity and prejudice, which was selected for the Dutch Theatre Festival. Theaterkrant wrote: “Under Alize Zandwijk’s direction, Birds of a Kind offers not only food for reflection but also a glimmer of hope that transcends polarising perspectives.”

With Richard, Zandwijk returns to ITA for a production that once again dissects the mechanisms of power and lays bare the human cost of such power.

by William Shakespeare
translation Gerrit Komrij
adaptation Alize Zandwijk and Liet Lenshoek
direction Alize Zandwijk
dramaturgy Liet Lenshoek
set design Thomas Rupert
costumes Sabine Snijders
lighting design Mark Van Denesse

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private producers Hans Sauerwein, Tineke Boersman & Frans Eusman, Rob van den Bergh