Riccardo III

Directed by Carmelo Bene

With Carmelo Bene, Lydia Mancinelli, Maria Grazia Grassini, Susanna Javicoli and Laura Morante

Riccardo III is a theatre play staged in 1977 and also edited for television and aired in 1981, which Carmelo Bene dedicated to his friend Gilles Deleuze, who wrote a book about it before even seeing it. Bene strips down the original Shakespeare play to the core, rejecting plot and characters, leaving on stage only Riccardo III and his ghosts, the female characters. The TV version is characterized by an exstensive use of close-ups and strong light contrast.