Concrete Playground

While old Dick Trois once spoke of the winter of our discontent, there is no doubt you'll be very satisfied when Kevin Spacey and Sam Mendes hit the Lyric Theatre this summer.

It's been 12 years since the pair worked together, playing hide and seek amongst rose petals and suburban teens in American Beauty, and this time Spacey and Mendes are locking lips with the Bard's political thriller, Richard III. The arch-villain of royal machinations must be a delight for Spacey to play, given his talents as a shape-shifting actor.

Richard III marks the final in a three-part international theatre series called The Bridge Project. Directed by Mendes, this series consists of three classical works (the first two being Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale) co-produced by BAM (New York), Old Vic Theatre (London) and Neal Street Productions, with the purpose of touring the large-scale productions to cities around the world.

Richard III will be arriving in Sydney on the back of a sold-out London season for a very limited 11 performances. If you can't afford the ticket price, ask a relative. Throw them in the tower if they don't acquiesce.