Druid Shakespeare: Richard III

photo by Richard Termine

Richard III has never been my favorite Shakespeare, but the current production in Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival, produced by Druid, a theater from Ireland, has shown me how great this unwieldy play can be. Druid Shakespeare: Richard III is brilliant, bordering on expressionism, directed meticulously by Druid’s Artistic Director, Garry Hynes. 

Queen Margaret skulks across stage before Richard enters, looking like a ghost in diaphanous gauze, in the play’s most surreal moment. Only then Richard enters from the floor with the famous soliloquy. This isn’t the text-based delivery of the 19th-century nor the rushed gone-before-you-know-it delivery that’s currently the rage in some circles. It’s metered, controlled verse supported by character and emotion. This Richard is bragging, not threatening, daring or confiding, and we become complicit in his crimes.

And that complicity remains throughout the play. Richard is a wise guy, his lines, with some exceptions, mocking the listener, dripping with ironic insincerity. No one would fall for his lies. But the Richard we hear is not the Richard the characters hear. We’re in on his plot from the beginning and throughout we experience the play through him.

Aaron Monaghan’s performance as the limping Richard is fascinating - an idiosyncratic interpretation - usually on one or two canes. His voice squeaks - indeed, some whole lines are delivered in falsetto - but he bellows in the final act, when he’s panicking.

Francis O’Connor and Doreen McKenna’s costumes almost exclusively dark.  Mr. O’Connor’s set has steely walls imprisoning the characters with one another. The stage is nearly bare, with a simple chair, and a wine cask, inevitable and premonitory. There’s light smoke throughout, and a skull suspended from the ceiling in a box. As one of Sartre’s characters, imprisoned with les autres, says, “We’re in hell, my pets.” My only objection is the use of anomalous florescent tubes to represent the tents on the battlefield.

Ms. Hynes has made cuts - naturally, mercifully and selectively. Lady Anne enters alone, dragging the corpse of the late king on her train, and delivers her speech “Set down, set down your honourable load” to no one. Only the ghosts of the two murdered princes appear in the Act V dream. And Clarence’s murderers never speak to him after their banter with one another. The play runs only three hours, with a 20 minute intermission.

Much is made of Catesby, played by the slight Marty Rea. He’s wearing a bowler and eyeglasses, the only character in contemporary drag. He murders Richard’s victims with a sort of staple gun because he’s ordered to. He’s a bureaucrat - the banality of evil.

There used to be a critical tradition of referring to Queen Elizabeth, Lady Anne and Queen Margaret as “the wailing women of Richard III.” In that marvelous scene with the three of them they lie on the floor, collapsed with grief. Marie Mullen is particularly striking as Queen Margaret, probably Shakespeare’s most vituperative senior citizen - “Out, devil! … A murderous villain, and so still thou art,” she brays.

After killing Richard and winning the Battle of Bosworth Field, Richmond limps off leaning on two swords, a second incarnation of Richard - great!

Ms. Hynes production of the play formerly known as The Tragedy of King Richard III is clear, specific, impeccable. Congratulations to her and Druid!

review
Steve Capra
November 2019
_____________________________________

Druid Shakespeare: Richard III
produced by Druid (Ireland)
for The Lincoln Center White Light Festival
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College
524 West 59th Street, New York
directed by Garry Hynes
with: Aaron Monaghan as Richard
Marie Mullen as Queen Margaret
Marty Rea as Catesby
lights: James F. Ingalls
sound: Gregory Clarke
set: Francis O’Connor
costume: Francis O’Connor and Doreen McKenna
opens November 7, 2019
closes November 23, 2019
212.721.6500
three hours with 20 min intermission
reviewed November 9, 2019

Popular posts from this blog

Anouilh's Antigone

There is a moment in Fusion Theatre’s production of Jean Anouilh’s Antigone (at Theatre Row’s Studio Theatre) when Creon says to Antigone “Don’t annihilate me with those eyes.” And indeed, Antigone’s unrelenting stare does seem to be annihilating him, as it’s been annihilating everyone. As Antigone, Eilin O’Dea motivates Creon’s line so well that it seems Anouilh has written it in response to the actress. Anouilh’s play, as this production makes clear, is an important drama. Anouilh reworked Sophocles’ play keeping the ancient Greek names and keeping the action in Thebes. The characters, however, mention tobacco, blood tests, film and cars. The dissonance reminds us that Anouilh’s message of courage and moral responsibility is ageless. Anouilh has created a raisonneur in a character called simply The Chorus. Tragedy, he tells us, “has nothing to do with melodrama”. “In tragedy, argument is gratuitous,” he says, but this is a very strange line; Antigone and Creon will soo...
Read more

C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert

C.S. Lewis lived between 1898 and 1963. He’s best known for his works of fiction such as The Screwtape Letters and The Chronicles of Narnia , although his non-fiction work is arguably more important. He ranks among the foremost 20 th -century Christian apologists and theologians. Max McLean has written a terrific solo show in which he presents Lewis in his study at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1950, C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert . Mr. MacLean is the show’s actor, and he’s co-directed it with Ken Denison. The script details Lewis’ conversion from atheism to Christianity, delineating the transformation in discrete steps. Lewis begins with his childhood in Belfast: “Mother’s death produced in me a deeply engrained pessimism,” he tells us. And “At 13 I ceased to be a Christian. At that age one scarcely notices.” He was confirmed in The Church of Ireland “in total disbelief.” The script presents us with the structure of Lewis’ life – his time at Oxford, his enli...
Read more

A Blanket of Dust

Image
Photo by Sharon Kinsella In Richard Squires’ play A Blanket of Dust, presented at The Flea Theater by Delphi Film in association with Alfonso Ramos and Eve Pomerance, a woman, Diane, looses her husband in the 9-11 disaster. She’s convinced that the government is responsible for the catastrophe, and campaigns to uncover the conspiracy. She’s a Senator’s daughter, so the issue becomes a family affair. Years later, she becomes involved with Andrew, a book store owner active in the dissident movement. Andrew is also at odds with his parents on political issues (his father is in government but it’s not clear what his position is.) In frustration, Andrew commits suicide - he sets fire to himself - in protest. This is all pretty grim, but, well, it’s a grim world, and it’s good to see issue- committed theater.   Mr. Squires’ keeps his script as lean as the WTC towers. The characters have no identity aside from their attitudes toward the issue, aside from the sketchy romance. ...
Read more