Richard III
The Machiavellian rise of Richard III is more often seen as a tragedy than the history play that it is recorded as, and this is one of the longest plays of the cannon, save only Hamlet, so it is rarely ever produced unabridged as much of the play requires the audience to know the historical events which take place in Henry VI. This lack of knowledge seems to not bother The Garage Theatre however, as their modernized production runs a staggering 3 and a half hours and seems to be lacking little to no cuts at all other than the melding of a few minor roles.
The production is directed by Amy Louise Serelius who seems less interested in the evolution of this demon from Noble to King and more interested in the concept that she has created, though it is hard to understand what exactly that concept is. The production takes place in some unclear, modern setting that seems to be a night club. The costumes designed by Curtis Jerome run the gambit of hodge-podge from Richard’s gothic punk rocker, to Buckingham’s 70’s exploitation look fit with beard and brown leather jacket, to Hastings who has an odd look like Perez Hilton after a bender. The production is rampant with drug use and loud club music underscoring almost every important moment of the play.
None of the major players seem to fit into their roles with any ease, the most difficult of all being Matthew Anderson as Richard III. In the opening lines of the play he clearly describes himself as "rudely stamp'd" and "deformed, unfinish'd", who cannot "strut before a wanton ambling nymph" yet Mr. Anderson has no nor plays no physical deformities and in fact is a rather good looking man, even physically imposing at times and spends most of the play being rubbed all over by beautiful women. This is totally counter to who this character is at his very core and the nature of his villainy. Without that, why is he “determined to prove a villain and hate the idle pleasures of these days?" He seems cool and well liked enough, and with all of his rampant drug use and the fact that he controls the music of the production in a DJ-like capacity, he seems to be enjoying the idle pleasures. Then there is his total lack of connection to anything but superficial, surface behavior. He is unaffected by anything, and the humor of the role is derived from the dichotomy between who we know Richard to be and how Richard tries to appear to the other characters. There is simply none of this.
Visually speaking, the play is stunning. The set, also designed by Curtis Jerome, services the action well, with a hidden playing space and an upstage scrim for beautiful silhouettes of the action or off stage events. Yet audiences don’t go to Shakespeare to seeing mind blowing visuals. And while the idea of the music and the drug use is an interesting concept, the core of the play is after all the words, which were lost many times to the unnecessary and overly loud music or to actors who had not the slightest idea what they were saying. It was clear that no one simply trusted the words.
Perhaps the marriage of this avant-garde theatre company and the work’s of The Bard are simply not a good fit. Or perhaps the idea of this production got the better of it. Either way, this is almost 4 hours you won’t want to spend in the theatre.