Meet Richard Just Around the Corner: Staging a Modern Monster

An international company arrives at London’s Cockpit Theatre tonight to stage a physical, percussive version of Richard III. The production, which runs from 8 to 11 July, marks the London debut of Argentine director and actor Nicolás Pérez Costa, who takes the title role in a staging that claims inspiration from expressionism and a bleak political outlook.

“Every production I direct has to develop its own language and its own code—a unique way of telling the story that makes it distinctive and recognizable,” said Perez Costa, discussing his choice to present the Plantagenet king within a modern framework.

Power and Expressionism in the Round

The production comes to London following an initial run at Madrid’s Teatro Infanta Isabel, which later transferred to a larger venue and secured several nominations at Spain’s Off Theatre Awards, including nods for best play, director, actor, and set design. For this staging, Perez Costa brings together a cast representing five countries to explore the play’s themes through heightened physical movement. Melding these distinct performance traditions presented an immediate obstacle.

“I think one of a director’s greatest challenges is bringing very different artistic worlds together and creating a shared language,” said Perez Costa. “The goal is to build a form of communication that allows those differences to become a strength rather than an obstacle. Every actor brings their own training, instincts and cultural background. That’s inevitable, and it’s something I value. But I believe that a deep love for theatre and a profound respect for the craft have allowed us to create a truly unified ensemble.”

“In the case of Richard III, the idea of a dystopian world became the foundation of that language,” Perez Costa continued. “I wanted to portray a leaderless society being fought over by people who seek power not for the common good, but out of resentment, revenge, and unchecked ambition. That vision pushed me towards a much more physical form of storytelling, inspired by expressionism. I worked with what I call ‘decaying bodies’—bodies that feel broken, fragmented, almost stripped of their souls, or carrying souls that have been deeply damaged.”

The performance space at the Cockpit Theatre arranges the audience around the actors, a choice meant to heighten the immediate relationship between the protagonist and the viewers, pulling them directly into the physical proximity of the actors.

“Having Richard so close changes everything,” said Perez Costa. “You can smell him, catch his gaze, sense his intentions before he speaks. He might sit beside you, or another actor might brush past your leg with a cloak or a skirt. Those details make the world of the play breathe. They dissolve the distance between fiction and reality, allowing the audience to experience the story rather than simply observe it.”

Reinterpreting Shakespeare’s Villain

The production treats the central character not as a historical anomaly or an exaggerated monster, but as a recognisable contemporary threat. Perez Costa stated that his preparation for the character involved a close look at emotional manipulation, victimhood, and blackmail, aiming to elicit a complex response from the audience rather than simple detachment. The staging is intended to frame the play as an active, modern cautionary tale.

“I don’t see my Richard as a caricature of evil. I want him to feel completely human,” said Perez Costa. “And, in fact, I don’t try to keep the audience at a distance. I try to do exactly the opposite. I want the audience to empathize with him. I want them to recognize his mechanisms of manipulation: his emotional blackmail, his victimhood, the way he turns his physical condition into a weapon to awaken compassion, almost like setting a trap. I don’t want people to leave thinking they have witnessed a monster from another era. I want them to leave believing they could meet someone like Richard just around the corner. For me, the production is a warning that people like him still exist. They live among us, and they continue to manipulate, seduce and accumulate power.”

Combining Text and Movement

Spanish actor Hugo Coello reprises his role as Lord Hastings, a performance that previously earned him a supporting actor nomination at the Off Theatre Awards in Madrid. Coello is no stranger to avant-garde reinterpretations of the classical canon, having previously encountered non-traditional staging choices in Romeo and Juliet: Electronic Tragedy in 360 Degrees. However, mounting this production in London required adapting his established physical approach to the original English text alongside a largely British company.

“What has been most revealing for me in bringing Hastings to London is how much my understanding of the character has shifted through working directly with Shakespeare’s original text,” said Coello. “I arrived with a clear physical and behavioural construction, but the encounter with the language opened up a deeper layer of meaning, particularly in relation to his inner logic and poetic structure. Being surrounded by British actors has been deeply enriching. Their instinctive relationship to Shakespeare and their generosity in sharing it with me during this process, has offered a perspective I could absorb and integrate into my own work.”

Coello noted that the rehearsal process involved working from an initial point of physical exaggeration under Perez Costa’s direction, allowing that movement to settle into a precise stage presence where the language follows the physical action. Within the production’s expressionist framework, even the most mundane gestures carry heavy thematic weight.

“Starting from a physical and expressive approach has allowed me to build this character from action, energy and presence, which opens up a great deal of creative freedom in which Nicolás Perez Costa has always guided me,” said Coello. “For me, working with expressionism starts at a point of excess as a way of discovering the character through my body. It means pushing me towards extremes, exploring the violence or tension in a glance, and then allowing that energy to settle and become readable rather than simply performed. Even the smallest actions, like a handshake, have become charged for me when the character is marked by decay, and every interaction leaves a trace in me.”

Relentless Percussion and Rhythmic Tension

A key aspect of this adaptation is the integration of live percussion, which runs throughout the performance to establish a steady cadence for the text. The director described the soundscape as an aggressive, vibrating element designed to actively unsettle the auditorium rather than act as an independent musical showcase, giving the play a sense of structural acceleration.

“The percussion is the pulse of the production,” said Perez Costa. “It isn’t there to become a performance in itself; it’s a subtle but essential element that creates an intense, and at times brutal, soundscape. The rhythm of this production is relentless. From the beginning, I wanted it to feel like an avalanche, almost like a tsunami—an unstoppable force that reflects the way power and its abuse can grow until they become overwhelming. Sometimes the sound is aggressive. It makes the audience uncomfortable, it vibrates through the space, it can even be frightening. At other moments, it draws them in. It breathes with the actors and with the story.”

As Coello prepares to open the play on the London stage, he remains firm in his belief that this high-tension, stylized framework does not obscure the text, but rather acts as a visceral conduit to strip away historical detachment and make the narrative completely present.

“What makes this Richard III particularly striking for me is that the darkness of the world on stage does not obscure the language, but instead intensifies it, making it resonate more directly with contemporary audiences,” said Coello.

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Richard III will play at The Cockpit Theatre, London, until July 11th 2026. For tickets or more information, click here: https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/richard_III