When I arrive in St Paul’s courtyard my heart sinks. The few benches are soaked through from a recent downpour, and the cut-up pallets that serve for further seating are worse. At this point it’s going to take a miracle to warm me up to this production.
As it turns out, a cup of tea and a cheerful cry of “Come sit, sit! I’ve got paper towels!” serve just as well.
Daniel Winder’s choice to ground Richard III in the tetralogy by staging the final scene of Henry VI, Part 3 works surprisingly well. It provides necessary context, but also delays the iconic “Now is the winter of our discontent” speech and thus prevents the audience from settling in to an old favourite too comfortably – Iris keeps you on your toes from the get go.

The audience becomes a part of the company as we’re ushered from one well-designed space to the next – we are courtiers, soldiers, conspirators, witnesses. This production of Richard III, a play that always toys with an audience’s conscience, amplifies our guilty complicity by having us follow Richard from place to place like sheep. We march to Bosworth Field on our own two feet, we follow Richard and Richmond into battle, and we’re not entirely sure whose side we’re on.

The production is polished, the company is strong, and the location is perfectly suited. Characters wave towards the church’s grand doors as they speak of the tower and we believe them entirely. A cry from the marketplace could be a rowdy solider in a neighbouring tent.
But David Hywel Baynes’s Richard overshadows it all. He is mercurial, cunning, charming, repellent – and all of these in a breath. He plays the anti-hero with such conviction that when the church rings with the cry “God save King Richard!” you’re torn between joining in and running to join the revolt.

In conversation after the show Baynes cites Mark Rylance as an influence. Lauding Rylance’s ‘Globe technique’, he humbly hopes he’s adopted some of the elder actor’s techniques for engaging an outdoor theatre audience. An even greater influence though is Dan, the director. “He’s always pushing me further,” Baynes says, smiling fondly, “Making me the best I can be.”

The genuine camaraderie in the company shows in their refined production, so I believe it when everyone I talk to, Baynes and Joel Mellinger (Hastings) in particular, tells me the company’s creativity is aided by its closeness.
“This is my first time with Iris,” says Joel, “but they’re like a family.” Entirely separately David, an old hand with Iris, says “I never met Joel before this production, but he’s like a brother.”

Yes, there was drizzle, yes, the sound effects sometimes jarringly miss their cue, and yes, your fellow audience member’s “Oh, I’m so terribly sorry!” as they step on your foot yanks you from your happy courtier fantasy. But despite all that, this is immersive Shakespeare at its very best – and the freshest Richard I’ve seen in years.

Iris Theatre’s Richard III runs until 25 July. Book your tickets here.