"NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage" (The Guardian 06/06/14)

NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage **

Dir: Jeremy Whelehan. With: Kevin Spacey, Sam Mendes, Maureen Anderman. Cert: 15. 97 mins.

As if running filmed plays in cinemas wasn’t perverse enough, here’s a making-of for a long-gone theatrical event: the production of Richard III toured worldwide by Sam Mendes’s Bridge Project. Where Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard dug into the text’s themes, NOW collates high-profile Facebook photos: the cast pause sightseeing to gush about their personal journeys, and we’re meant to applaud their great fortitude in being flown around the globe to speak somebody else’s lines. The apex of smugness? Enter, stage right, Mr. Kevin Spacey: “People talk about playing to the Gods – this time, I think the Gods came to us.” Oh, actors. 

NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage opens in selected cinemas from Monday.