Kenneth Turan, LA Times

May 8, 2014

As much as theater and film have in common, and that’s a lot, their core differences can be formidable. A film is the same every time you see it, while “the thrill of theater” says Sam Mendes, who has worked in both arenas, “is that fact that it’s alive, happening once only in front of your eyes. These things happen and then they’re gone”.

It is the particular triumph of “Now: In the Wings on a World Stage” a documentary look at a production of Shakespeare’s “Richard III” directed by Mendes and starring Kevin Spacey as the malevolent monarch, that it is able to square that particular circle: It’s that rare film that captures and coveys the romance of the theatrical experience.

Mendes, Spacey and their Bridge Project transatlantic theater company took this particular “Richard III” on an ambitious international journey that lasted most of a year. The play started at London’s Old Vic, where Spacey is the artistic director, and went to cities as various as Naples, Italy; Sydney, Australia; and Doha in Qatar before ending at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. […continued]

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