Richard III

Richard III Play Review
By Kirk Barbera
Performed by The Denver Center for Performing Arts

The silliness of the latest production of a rather contemptible character is reminiscent of a man reaching into a bag of tricks to accomplish the unknown. Richard was played by an incredible actor, Andrew Long, who seemed to have a firm grasp of his role. It seemed however, while watching this mediocre play by Shakespeare, which was ruined and brought down to the level of a beginners understand of Richard III, by director Jesse Berger. The individual actor’s performances where grandiose and believable, the director’s haughty vision got in the way of a true Shakespearean experience.

First is needed a brief dissection of Shakespeare’s Richard III. Richard is a man deformed at birth, but born into royalty. A noble outcast. His desire to lead the life ‘given to him’ is what drives his morality, believing he is only living according to his nature. Richard Isn’t satisfied with wars ending; only the never-ending battle interests him. As he says in his opening soliloquy:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover to entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain and hate the idle pleasures of these days.

It is apparent what his motivation is throughout the play, simply that of power. The major dramatic question I believe Shakespeare is attempting to bring up is what the taste of power does to a man, but more importantly it brings up the rather interesting inspection of a true unapologetically evil man.

The main error in Mr. Berger’s sad attempt to bring this play to life is his evident ‘dummying down of Shakespeare’ for a more modern audience. This was rather obvious with some of the choices the actors made, more than likely at the bequest of their director. The use of certain gestures to ‘help’ the audience understand what is being said on stage was rather insulting. Worst of all however, was the music used, the trite and overly dramatic music that played whenever another one of Richard’s victims was about to die was horrendously distracting. It was also very hard to get engaged by this supposedly ‘charming’ character when I only felt bad for the stupidity of the supporting characters. It is true that Richard was very convincing; it is also true that a person is a buffoon to be duped by a family member they’ve known their whole lives; this is like a woman who is surprised that her abusive husband beat her again.

There were some notably good features to this play as well. For one, the costumes were done beautifully. Especially that of Richard himself, his costume bellied his evil yet innovative nature. He did not need to apologize for his ragged limp and ugly deformity. He seemed to use it to his advantage. The knife on his left ankle was a clever way to convey to the audience this is a man underestimated, who knows very well how to take care of himself. The set design was also eloquently done. Personally there are two scenes I rather enjoyed: First was the scene when the people begged Richard to be their king and he is seen walking on the scaffolding above, showing his supposed superiority to everyone around him, and his subsequent refusal than acceptance of the position. That scene was ingenious by both the directorial choices and the writers’ choices. Secondly was the dream sequence. In this sequence the use of the lighting and music was incredibly on task. It truly shows the damage done to Richard’s mental situation. Although, he may have been a good natured child he seemed to have been changed by his environment, this sequence shows the consequences of those choices.

Overall, Richard III is a story of a man corrupted by power and turned to evil. The theatrical elements needed for this production were there. Unfortunately for us the director wished to commercial one of Shakespeare’s most famous, yet unworthy plays.