The audience, accustomed to the heroic strut of tragedians, were startled. 'Kean bustled across the stage, every movement of his body alert and quick. One contemporary observer described his first entry into the play thus: In the early nineteenth century, Edmund Kean's performance thrilled his audience with its audacious combination of naturalism and tragic grandeur. Like Hamlet, the role became a benchmark for success and every actor worth his salt had to prove himself in it. His brilliance in the role, sustained throughout his long career, did much to secure the play's long-lasting popularity. Garrick was famous for the astonishing expressiveness of his face, body and voice, all of which he exploited to portray the Richard's mercurial intelligence, sardonic wit and courageous death. In 1741, this adapted version was played for the first time by the young David Garrick, who was to become one of its most famous interpreters. This simplified version of the play continued to be very popular for the next two centuries, keeping its place on the English stage longer than any other seventeenth-century adaptation. Richard's starring role became even more dominant as characters such as Edward, Margaret, Clarence and Hastings disappeared altogether. He retained only a quarter or so of Shakespeare's original text, while adding some of his own and borrowing some lines from Richard's self-revealing soliloquies in Henry VI Part 3. In 1700, the playwright and actor, Colley Cibber, refashioned Richard III to suit the taste of the new century. In order to cover the play's 52 speaking parts, even the largest Elizabethan company would have had to double many of the roles. The boy players in the company must have been accomplished and gifted professionals because Shakespeare relied on them to portray his impressive array of noble-women and queens. To his performances, Burbage evidently brought a charismatic physical presence, the superb vocal technique needed to deliver long speeches of blank verse, the talent and skill to express both witty intelligence and emotional truth, and an acute psychological observation of human behaviour. Shakespeare's own extraordinary genius clearly flourished in response to the extraordinary gifts of his leading actor.
From the 590s to the present day, this virtuoso role has been one of the most prized in classical theatre: it is so well written and entertaining that it is as near as it gets to being fool-proof.
Shakespeare wrote the role of Richard of Gloucester, the consummate actor, for his company's own real-life consummate actor, Richard Burbage. Music, costume (royal and plebeian), appropriate weaponry and a few essential props were all that was required. The lack of scenery was a help rather than a hindrance in allowing fast-paced, fluid action and a focus on the players and their speech. The play's first performances were presented in daylight on the simple thrust stage of an Elizabethan playhouse.
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