A hunched Rich-ard, played by John Murray, staggered down the steps and managed to charm the crowd, despite being one of the Bard's most vicious characters.

Richard is a swine of the highest order.

Manipulating the death of his brothers, he climbs the greasy pole towards Kingdom before inevitably losing it all.

A great scene near the beginning sees King Edward IV (Ray Lumb) reconciling the differences between various factions of the War of the Roses before Richard reveals in mocked sadness that brother Clarence has been murdered in the tower.

We never actually see the tower. Instead the actors sinisterly look up at the grim stone edifice "offstage", where the two princes later meet their end.

The finishing scene at Bosworth Field, where the Earl of Richmond (Andrew Rakowski) snatches the crown from the fallen King, is spectacularly maudlin as the gloomy mist crawls through the trees of the open air stage.

For those unfamiliar with the lineage of 15th century nobility, a helpful family tree in the programme filled in the blanks.

I particularly liked the contrast in personalities between the Duke of Buckingham (Richard Byron White) and Lord Hastings (Nigel Kuhn).

The performance by Caroline Stephenson as Queen Margaret, the broken widow of King Henry VI who sees the future, is particularly blood chilling.

The show is directed by Jean Harley and Maggie Porter and is excellent, although it might not attract new fans to Shakespeare as it is a complex tale.

But even if you lose track of who is who, you will enjoy Richard himself and his evil smile.

n For tickets and details of this season's performances go online to www.stamfordshake speare.co.uk