Richard 3 (Bell Shakespeare)

Bell Shakespeare has launched its 2017 season with the company's first Richard 3 since John Bell himself played the tortured monarch in 2002. It's a tale of a villainous ruler, unmoved by how much blood is shed in his quest to obtain and maintain power.

The crown jewel of this production is Kate Mulvany's hotly anticipated turn in the titular role. She certainly does not disappoint, pouring every inch of her being into this performance. Like Richard, Mulvany has a deformation of the spine, so her physicality is powerfully authentic, but it's the new life she breathes into this villain, sharply handsome with a cropped shock of blonde hair and a sneering grin, that really impresses. Bitter about his disfigurement — and the lack of love and respect he has suffered because of it — Richard sees no choice but to play dirty. "Since I cannot prove a lover / To entertain these fair well-spoken days / I am determined to prove a villain," he vows.

This production is not so much concerned with historical accuracy as it is with setting a tone, and indeed, it's no secret that Shakespeare wasn't the most reliable historian, so why not run with it? Director Peter Evans is keen to pursue a timeless quality in this staging. In place of a cold 13th century castle, designer Anna Cordingley's set is a decadent, Gatsby-esque room, laden with plush surfaces and abandoned wine glasses. The characters are oblivious to everything outside of the bubble of opulence they exist in; they live in a never-ending party. In recurring vignettes of action, the inhabitants of this hedonistic den dance erratically, throw back drinks, and whisk one another about the room — pleasure and pain are all but indistinguishable from one another.

Interjections, when the cast unite their voices in a haunting choir, punctuate the action. A dumbwaiter built into the set is a clever and practical way of delivering new props into the room (and one really could imagine the self-involved royals of this play delighting in the opportunity to avoid eye contact with their servants). However, the inclusion of a live video feed of the inside of the dumbwaiter, delivered by a screen affixed to a top corner of the set, feels more like an afterthought than a genuinely important device.

The cast is exemplary. Patches of stoic dialogue are sliced open by lashes of unbridled rage and emotion. No one member of the ensemble ever leaves the stage for long, sinking into the background action, emerging from under a bloodied sheet to resurface as a different character, once their previous one is slain. All this role sharing may indeed be typical of a Shakespearian play boasting as many characters as this, but in this production, due to an absence of any remarkable differences in the costuming or vocal delivery between switched roles, the lack of distinction between characters often renders the narrative muddled and confusing.

Another misfire is Evans' attempts to push the similarities between Shakespeare's conniving ruler and Trump's rise to power. The parallel feels forced; this anti-hero has as much in common with Breaking Bad's Heisenberg as Trump. This production doesn't reveal anything overly incisive or shocking about our current political predicaments, despite Shakespeare's malleability. The most poignancy it offers is the revelation that people born into privilege, unoccupied by the need to actually work for a living, will endlessly clamour to create their own drama.

Despite its shortcomings, this production is worth seeing for Mulvany's performance alone. Other productions have seen women in this title role before, but fascinatingly, here Richard is not reimagined as female. Mulvany embodies the male essence of this character to conjure a gender-ambiguous account. She generously lends her own form to his, leaning into her swayed spine, the result of a childhood cancer. Richard's anger and misogyny can be read with new meaning when delivered by Mulvany. Her biting asides and witty delivery evoke much-needed laughter amongst the seriousness, yet she retains enough gravitas to steer clear of melodramatic territory. Even when not directly involved in the action, Mulvany's presence is magnetic - menacingly scowling at the unfolding scene. It's a performance for the ages.

Bell Shakespeare presents Richard 3, playing until Apr 1 at Sydney Opera House, 6 — 15 Apr at Canberra Theatre Centre and 20 Apr — 7 May at Arts Centre Melbourne.