Richard III reunites Kevin Spacey and Sam Mendes for the first time since their 1999 film American Beauty, for which the actor and director both won Oscars.

Spacey is directed by Mendes on stage at the Old Vic in the title role of Richard III, Shakespeare’s iconic history play.

Richard III opens with one of the most famous lines from Shakespeare: “Now is the winter of our discontent.” What follows is a tale of the Machiavellian monarch’s rise to power and short rule.

Richard III is the sole production in the third year of The Bridge Project, an initiative between the Old Vic, the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and Mendes’s company Neal Street Productions. Since 2009 a season of productions has been presented in both London and New York as well as on international tour.

Spacey is joined on stage by a company of British and American actors.

For more about Richard III at the Old Vic read the First Night Feature.