Theatre News and Reviews

Shakespeare’s first truly independent play, Richard III, combined historical and Marlowe-like “overreacher” drama into one whole. Shakespeare, however, was more conservative than Marlowe. He followed Tudor custom and saw his Richard not only as evil, but also as the devil himself–created by the breaking of the royal line generations before with the murder of Richard II. Usurpation will eventually produce the devil, and when he is finally killed, the nation can be made whole again.

The Blue Room’s production of Richard III is excellent, a must-see. Set in Nixon-era America, it hangs on three central characters: Richard (the Nixon-resembling Joe Hilsee), the Duke of Buckingham (Jerry Miller), Richard’s chief stalking horse and tool, and the deposed Queen Margaret (Drenia Acosta), who, though her part is small, hangs heavy in the plot because she stands for the fate Richard strives to avoid. Under the guidance of visiting director David Davalos, all three were first-rate. Indeed, every word in Richard sounded clearly; and the pacing (crisp but not rushed), the cutting (intelligent) and the staging (with Richard frequently moving like a serpent around the base of the three-platform center stage on which his victims stood) were all superb–as were a number of the secondary actors.

(more…)

This entry was posted on Monday, March 21st, 2005 at 8:11 pm and is filed under Theatre, Local. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.