September 17 (Wednesday) 7 pm

Richard III

Directed by Richard Loncraine
UK/US, 1995, color, 104 min.
With Ian McKellen, Kristin Scott Thomas, Annette Bening

Richard of Gloucester is transported to England in the 1930s in this modernist retelling of one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies. Director Richard Loncraine constructs an alternative reality in which the British government and monarchy have been overtaken by a group of black-shirted, motorcycle-riding fascists headed by one of the Bard’s most villainous creations. Ian McKellen, who co-wrote this inventive adaptation with Loncraine, provides a masterful interpretation of the title role that strikes a near-perfect balance between the comedic and dramatic elements of the original material.