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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2019
THEATER: "Richard III," A Schemer Undone By
Greed, Violence And A Poor Production
DRUIDSHAKESPEARE: RICHARD III * 1/2 out of ****
LINCOLN CENTER'S WHITE LIGHT FESTIVAL
GERALD W. LYNCH THEATER AT JOHN JAY COLLEGE
Richard III is undone by distrust. This cruel manipulator is never
trustworthy so he can't imagine anyone else being trustworthy either.Ultimately it makes him paranoid and incapable of holding onto the
power he has so ruthlessly seized.
But DruidShakespeare: Richard III is undone by too much trust. All
ideas are welcome no matter how unconnected to one another they
might be. The mishmash of sets and costumes and periods and acting
styles turns what was a dully traditional production at the start into a
confusing bore by the end.
Happily, they found a solid Richard in Aaron Monaghan. He scuttles
about the stage a la Antony Sher and proves charmingly evil. Has
Shakespeare ever written a more appealing villain? If his vocal ticsseem increasingly desperate by the end, we can pretend it's thecharacter spiraling down rather than an actor trying to hold together aproduction spinning out of control.MICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
▼ 2019 (86)
▼ November (6)
BOOKS: Is Finance The Root Of
All Evil?
Photo by Robbie Jack ©2019
Playing off a reference to a slaughterhouse, the entire stage is framed
in harsh metal by set designer Francis O'Connor, with all the trappings
of a modern slaughterhouse, including the dirt-covered floor and a
cattle gun (the weapon employed by Javier Bardem in No Country For
Old Men). Tall metal doors line the sides and the back. All that's
missing is a maze to lead the royal cattle to slaughter so they won'trealize what's happening until the last moment.
Richard pops out of a grave site and launches into his opening gambit
of winning over the audience to his wicked, wicked ways. "Now is thewinter of our discontent...." The bodies do pile up, with Richard
wooing and wiling away towards and past and around his victims. Hekeeps his eye on the throne of England, symbolized by the crownresting on a skull displayed in a box hovering above the stage. It'salmost within his reach.
The show sort of works, for a while. Richard's wooing of Lady Anne(Siobhán Cullen) has a power that can't be matched when a similarscene is reenacted again and again throughout the play. Richard'srapport with Buckingham (Rory Nolan) sort of convinces. And theanachronistic cattle gun wielded is ok, though Marty Rea's monotone
executioner soon pales.
Many of the supporting performances simply fall flat, their lines
delivered without purpose or meaning. But the story moves along onits own momentum just enough to get us to act two.THEATER: Good Intentions No
Substitute For Good Me...
THEATER: "Richard III," A
Schemer Undone By Greed,...
THEATER: "Enchanted April" --
The Charming Tale Th...
THEATER: To Delete or Not To
Delete, That Is The D...
MOVIES: "American Dharma"
Bum Steve Bannon
► October (21)
► September (10)
► August (9)
► July (7)
► June (3)
► May (6)
► April (10)
► March (5)
► February (1)
► January (8)
► 2018 (38)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (22)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (17)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
► 2005 (5)
Photo by Richard Termine ©2019
Nothing is dramatically different in act two except all the poor choices
you ignored in act one become inescapable. While Druid mainstay andco-founder Maria Mullen has fun miming the confusion and easily
played emotions of the Lord Mayor, the uninteresting secondary
performances pile up as much as the bodies. Even something as minoras the actress playing one of the Princes in the Tower doubling as apage annoys when the costumes by O'Connor (and Doreen McKenna
as co-costume designer) do so very little to set the two roles apart. Andthe clothes become increasingly odd, such as the sort of metallic
bronze and silver royal cape Richard III dons after being crowned
king. It's echoed by the red metallic cape uneasily sported byRichmond in the final battle, a piece of clothing that clashesunpleasantly with his odd regalia and almost gets tangled up in theclimactic sword fight.
Worse is the cartoonish, massive hood sported by an executioner
called in to dispatch the beloved tykes in the Tower. Presumably usedto allow one actor to more easily double up on roles, it looks likesomething out of a Looney Tunes cartoon. (The actor's cartoonishgravel pit of a voice doesn't help.) Worse than that are the somewhat
similar cheap black hoodies sported by servants and the like who rush
in with a stream of bad news for Richard. The action starts to look likea Monty Python sketch. A rain machine drips throughout the showhere and there as you keep wondering what exactly is falling from the
ceiling until the rain scene happens and you think, ah, that's what that
was! Worse, it drips pretty consistently throughout the scene after it'ssupposed to stop.
The night before the battle, Richard's army sets up tents for the king,
tents which are made of long neon polls lit in red. Why, one can't
imagine. Then they turn to pale blue, indicating, it seems, that nighthas come. Richard gets into his tent but then the other tent turns redagain and in pops Richmond for his nap. When the battle is about tocommence, they are clumsily lifted up into the rafters, the poles
bouncing off one another and seemingly alive like the legs of neon
spiders. It's a distracting and bizarre choice from start to finish.
Scene after scene passes woodenly, such as the meeting/confrontation
of the royal women. Queen Margaret scores the most points, as
always, thanks to her venomous curses, but not enough to wake the
moment up. The lighting by James F. Ingalls rarely sets one momentoff from the next. The music by Conor Linehan crashes in obtrusively
once or twice to announce the beginning of an act or that something
exceptionally dramatic might be going on. A vague mist appears everyonce in a while, uncertain as to whether it's wanted or not beforetimidly slipping away again. And the battle choreographed by DavidBolger is simply inept.
As a final dashed-off thought hoping to tie it all together, Richmond
(Frank Blake) is crowned king only to echo the misshapen andscuttling spider silhouette of Richard. Does power corrupt? Perhaps,
but it's certainly not been the through line of a show devoted to a
traditional take on Richard as an inherently cruel man, not one bentby the weight of the crown.
Director Garry Hynes co-founded the venerable Druid in 1975 and has
undoubtedly delivered the goods before, though we've had precious
few chances to witness it in New York. Still, her work here is slapdashand poorly thought out. Unlike England, a play needs a ruthlessleader.
THEATER OF 2019
Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2
Minor Character: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ***
Ink: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ** 1/2
Choir Boy ** 1/2
White Noise ** 1/2
Kiss Me, Kate ***
Ain't No Mo' *** 1/2
Ain't Too Proud **
The Cradle Will Rock * 1/2
Mrs. Murray's Menagerie *** 1/2
Oklahoma! (on Broadway) ** 1/2
Socrates **
The Pain Of My Belligerence *
Burn This **
Hadestown *** 1/2
All My Sons * 1/2
Tootsie ** 1/2
Ink ***
Beetlejuice **
Estado Vegetal ***
Hans Christian Andersen * 1/2
Cirque du Soleil: Luzia ***
BLKS ** 1/2
Moulin Rouge ** 1/2
Bat Out Of Hell **
Unchilding **
Sea Wall/ A Life ** 1/2
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ***
Betrayal *** 1/2
Fifty Million Frenchmen ** 1/2
Freestyle Love Supreme ** 1/2
Derren Brown: Secret ***
(A)loft Modulation * 1/2
The Great Society **
I Can't See *
Heroes Of The Fourth Turning ** 1/2
Chasing Rainbows: The Road To Oz ***
The Glass Menagerie (dir Austin Pendleton & Peter Bloch) **
Terra Firma (debut of The Coop theater company) **
Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation ***
Dublin Carol ** 1/2
Soft Power **
The Decline and Fall of The Entire World As Seen Through The Eyes
Of Cole Porter ***
For Colored Girls ** 1/2
Scotland, PA **
The Sound Inside *** (great cast, clumsy ending)
User Not Found **
Enchanted April **
DruidShakespeare: Richard III * 1/2Broadbend, Arkansas
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book
lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the
way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new
releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal
recommendations every step of the way. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz
Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on
entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as
guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called
Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 2:10 AM
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Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home
THEATER: "Richard III," A Schemer Undone By
Greed, Violence And A Poor Production
DRUIDSHAKESPEARE: RICHARD III * 1/2 out of ****
LINCOLN CENTER'S WHITE LIGHT FESTIVAL
GERALD W. LYNCH THEATER AT JOHN JAY COLLEGE
Richard III is undone by distrust. This cruel manipulator is never
trustworthy so he can't imagine anyone else being trustworthy either.Ultimately it makes him paranoid and incapable of holding onto the
power he has so ruthlessly seized.
But DruidShakespeare: Richard III is undone by too much trust. All
ideas are welcome no matter how unconnected to one another they
might be. The mishmash of sets and costumes and periods and acting
styles turns what was a dully traditional production at the start into a
confusing bore by the end.
Happily, they found a solid Richard in Aaron Monaghan. He scuttles
about the stage a la Antony Sher and proves charmingly evil. Has
Shakespeare ever written a more appealing villain? If his vocal ticsseem increasingly desperate by the end, we can pretend it's thecharacter spiraling down rather than an actor trying to hold together aproduction spinning out of control.MICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
▼ 2019 (86)
▼ November (6)
BOOKS: Is Finance The Root Of
All Evil?
Photo by Robbie Jack ©2019
Playing off a reference to a slaughterhouse, the entire stage is framed
in harsh metal by set designer Francis O'Connor, with all the trappings
of a modern slaughterhouse, including the dirt-covered floor and a
cattle gun (the weapon employed by Javier Bardem in No Country For
Old Men). Tall metal doors line the sides and the back. All that's
missing is a maze to lead the royal cattle to slaughter so they won'trealize what's happening until the last moment.
Richard pops out of a grave site and launches into his opening gambit
of winning over the audience to his wicked, wicked ways. "Now is thewinter of our discontent...." The bodies do pile up, with Richard
wooing and wiling away towards and past and around his victims. Hekeeps his eye on the throne of England, symbolized by the crownresting on a skull displayed in a box hovering above the stage. It'salmost within his reach.
The show sort of works, for a while. Richard's wooing of Lady Anne(Siobhán Cullen) has a power that can't be matched when a similarscene is reenacted again and again throughout the play. Richard'srapport with Buckingham (Rory Nolan) sort of convinces. And theanachronistic cattle gun wielded is ok, though Marty Rea's monotone
executioner soon pales.
Many of the supporting performances simply fall flat, their lines
delivered without purpose or meaning. But the story moves along onits own momentum just enough to get us to act two.THEATER: Good Intentions No
Substitute For Good Me...
THEATER: "Richard III," A
Schemer Undone By Greed,...
THEATER: "Enchanted April" --
The Charming Tale Th...
THEATER: To Delete or Not To
Delete, That Is The D...
MOVIES: "American Dharma"
Bum Steve Bannon
► October (21)
► September (10)
► August (9)
► July (7)
► June (3)
► May (6)
► April (10)
► March (5)
► February (1)
► January (8)
► 2018 (38)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (22)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (17)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
► 2005 (5)
Photo by Richard Termine ©2019
Nothing is dramatically different in act two except all the poor choices
you ignored in act one become inescapable. While Druid mainstay andco-founder Maria Mullen has fun miming the confusion and easily
played emotions of the Lord Mayor, the uninteresting secondary
performances pile up as much as the bodies. Even something as minoras the actress playing one of the Princes in the Tower doubling as apage annoys when the costumes by O'Connor (and Doreen McKenna
as co-costume designer) do so very little to set the two roles apart. Andthe clothes become increasingly odd, such as the sort of metallic
bronze and silver royal cape Richard III dons after being crowned
king. It's echoed by the red metallic cape uneasily sported byRichmond in the final battle, a piece of clothing that clashesunpleasantly with his odd regalia and almost gets tangled up in theclimactic sword fight.
Worse is the cartoonish, massive hood sported by an executioner
called in to dispatch the beloved tykes in the Tower. Presumably usedto allow one actor to more easily double up on roles, it looks likesomething out of a Looney Tunes cartoon. (The actor's cartoonishgravel pit of a voice doesn't help.) Worse than that are the somewhat
similar cheap black hoodies sported by servants and the like who rush
in with a stream of bad news for Richard. The action starts to look likea Monty Python sketch. A rain machine drips throughout the showhere and there as you keep wondering what exactly is falling from the
ceiling until the rain scene happens and you think, ah, that's what that
was! Worse, it drips pretty consistently throughout the scene after it'ssupposed to stop.
The night before the battle, Richard's army sets up tents for the king,
tents which are made of long neon polls lit in red. Why, one can't
imagine. Then they turn to pale blue, indicating, it seems, that nighthas come. Richard gets into his tent but then the other tent turns redagain and in pops Richmond for his nap. When the battle is about tocommence, they are clumsily lifted up into the rafters, the poles
bouncing off one another and seemingly alive like the legs of neon
spiders. It's a distracting and bizarre choice from start to finish.
Scene after scene passes woodenly, such as the meeting/confrontation
of the royal women. Queen Margaret scores the most points, as
always, thanks to her venomous curses, but not enough to wake the
moment up. The lighting by James F. Ingalls rarely sets one momentoff from the next. The music by Conor Linehan crashes in obtrusively
once or twice to announce the beginning of an act or that something
exceptionally dramatic might be going on. A vague mist appears everyonce in a while, uncertain as to whether it's wanted or not beforetimidly slipping away again. And the battle choreographed by DavidBolger is simply inept.
As a final dashed-off thought hoping to tie it all together, Richmond
(Frank Blake) is crowned king only to echo the misshapen andscuttling spider silhouette of Richard. Does power corrupt? Perhaps,
but it's certainly not been the through line of a show devoted to a
traditional take on Richard as an inherently cruel man, not one bentby the weight of the crown.
Director Garry Hynes co-founded the venerable Druid in 1975 and has
undoubtedly delivered the goods before, though we've had precious
few chances to witness it in New York. Still, her work here is slapdashand poorly thought out. Unlike England, a play needs a ruthlessleader.
THEATER OF 2019
Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2
Minor Character: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ***
Ink: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ** 1/2
Choir Boy ** 1/2
White Noise ** 1/2
Kiss Me, Kate ***
Ain't No Mo' *** 1/2
Ain't Too Proud **
The Cradle Will Rock * 1/2
Mrs. Murray's Menagerie *** 1/2
Oklahoma! (on Broadway) ** 1/2
Socrates **
The Pain Of My Belligerence *
Burn This **
Hadestown *** 1/2
All My Sons * 1/2
Tootsie ** 1/2
Ink ***
Beetlejuice **
Estado Vegetal ***
Hans Christian Andersen * 1/2
Cirque du Soleil: Luzia ***
BLKS ** 1/2
Moulin Rouge ** 1/2
Bat Out Of Hell **
Unchilding **
Sea Wall/ A Life ** 1/2
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ***
Betrayal *** 1/2
Fifty Million Frenchmen ** 1/2
Freestyle Love Supreme ** 1/2
Derren Brown: Secret ***
(A)loft Modulation * 1/2
The Great Society **
I Can't See *
Heroes Of The Fourth Turning ** 1/2
Chasing Rainbows: The Road To Oz ***
The Glass Menagerie (dir Austin Pendleton & Peter Bloch) **
Terra Firma (debut of The Coop theater company) **
Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation ***
Dublin Carol ** 1/2
Soft Power **
The Decline and Fall of The Entire World As Seen Through The Eyes
Of Cole Porter ***
For Colored Girls ** 1/2
Scotland, PA **
The Sound Inside *** (great cast, clumsy ending)
User Not Found **
Enchanted April **
DruidShakespeare: Richard III * 1/2Broadbend, Arkansas
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book
lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the
way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new
releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal
recommendations every step of the way. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz
Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on
entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as
guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called
Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 2:10 AM
NO COMMENTS:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home