SOME people will do anything to be King - Richard, Duke of Gloucester, more than most.

Getting a couple of murderers to stab his brother, whom he's already locked up in the Tower of London, is done with the wave of a hand.

Shocking the existing King into an early demise, knowing that he already suffers from bad health, is par for the course, and locking the Queen's children in the Tower before ending their short lives is done in a trice.

There are many other deaths in Shakespeare's opus and they're all rather well done in this latest production from Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company

Under the direction of Chris Sparham, this production spits and snarls its way through its three-hour running time, counter-balancing high drama with moments of sneeringly good black comedy.

It's a production that does not rely on sets to help portray the story, a simple black curtained stage, atmospheric lighting and the odd chair, throne or beheading block is all that's needed to bring the play to life.

The cast are uniformly excellent.

Not a missed line or nervous glance was in evidence, but more than anything this is a show that needs to be seen for the quite startling and immensely satisfying central performance of Ben Adams.

This really is his show and he brings Richard to life - not in a caricatured way, but as a man who may just about be the most evil human being you will ever see.

That said, he also brings to him a redeeming side with his humour, sarcastic wit and wry asides.

Adams gives a tour de force portrayal that elevates this production to one of the finest I have ever seen from the company.

Do whatever you can to catch this superb piece of theatre at the Guildhall this week - it really is a gem.

My last production as this paper's theatre critic couldn't have been more memorable. It's not the finest play of my 5 years but, to Derby Shakespeare's enormous credit, this outshines the Playhouse's Romeo & Juliet in its bold, vigorous contemporising of the story and, excitingly, we herald a star of the future: 16 year-old Jack Bamford as Romeo.

I prickled with doubt initially: our al fresco setting was a grey patch of gravel, albeit backed by tall verdant trees, where a TV reporter announces - using non-Shakespearean text - that the Montagues and Capulets are warring fashion houses (although they're more like Mafioso gangs with their gun-belts and bile). However, the reporter then slips into the Bard's proper prologue and although the first lovers' meeting doesn't electrify - they grin, kiss and part - Elaina Evans' brave, brazen Baz Luhrmann-esque pop culture production then comes vibrantly alive.

I loved its style - supermodels, break-dancers, a Cadillac depositing revellers and sight of a Hello magazine with the headline 'Verona's Paris seeks love' - but there's substance, too. I soon began to feel both the passion and pangs of love from Jack Bamford and Ami-Lou Sharpe as Romeo & Juliet. Although Ami-Lou is somewhat older than Jack, I still got a keen sense of the naive, innocent impetuosity of young love, and both tellingly and affectingly display pain and anguish at being torn apart, making for an achingly moving (and superbly staged) death scene.

Other performances shine: Dan Maddison is a humane Friar of gentle gravitas, Nick Hallam is a paterfamilial Capulet impressive in his wrath, Will Tipper plays Tybalt as if he's actively seeking an ASBO, Benjamin Lawrence is an entertaining if too mercurial a Mercutio, and how refreshing to see a young nurse, played with feisty aplomb by the ever-maturing Charlotte Matthews.

However, the night belonged to Jack Bamford. For someone so young, he has supreme confidence, naturalness, intensity and presence. What a find. When he wins an Olivier or a BAFTA, you can say you saw him here.

Ashley Franklin
Derby Evening Telegraph

"Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war"...

This is a timely production, alright: by the Ides of March, British soldiers could be caught up in civil war in Iraq, where seems to rule the same mob mentality as in the play. Indeed, this was the thrust of the recent Barbican production where also, as in this production, it's dark suits rather than pale togas.

Indeed, as Cassius and Brutus conspire over a cafetiere at the 'Forum' bar - neat touch, that - it felt like they were plotting executive rather than actual backstabbing with Rome likely to be revealed as not a civic but corporate empire. With a few women cast in men's parts, I also perceived a comment on the glass ceiling.

Then the Forum Bar became 11 Downing Street and suddenly Brutus was Brown and Caesar Blair. Civil strife in Britain? Maybe so: another neat touch is inserting the Kaiser Chiefs' I Predict A Riot, a contemporary song drawn from reality.

What all this tells us is that it's darned tricky trying to update the Bard! However, this is a commendable debut by director Laurence Conneely-Byrne. He's certainly cast wisely: as Cassius, Alan Smith is suitably "lean, hungry and dangerous", Keith Briars is a solid Caesar, Gordon Gell a tragic Brutus wracked with self-doubt and Jenny Earl an impressive Casca, with other support performances varying from substantial to thinly expressive.

Laurence has satisfactorily evoked the play's themes of ambition, greed and power and provided smart flourishes like fearsome riot police and a video screen for Mark Antony to show the baying populace a blood-drenched Caesar in close-up - much more effective than traditionally dragging the body before them.

Antony's telling oratory is rich food for Chris Sparham - as confident and assured with Shakespeare as ever - but that epic scene will tell any Roman or countryman that the small Ludlum stage limits Caesarian ambition. Let's hope Laurence is allowed to flex his muscle on a bigger stage.

Ashleigh Franklin
Derby Evening Telegraph

(M) Indicates those productions performed at the Minack Theatre, Cornwall