Richard III - Performance Review

Today’s political climate in America is less than ideal, as I am sure most can agree. The Globe’s production of Richard III was able to portray the common political fears that most Americans are feeling at this time. Whether it be unworthy men in positions of power, the retraction of women's rights, or the overall silencing of women's voices, each and every thought that I have on American politics was exemplified in last night's show. Within this review, I will be addressing Richard III as he pertains to Shakespeare’s original text rather than the real life monarch that he was.    


Within the text as well as most adaptations of this show Richard III has a physical disability. I appreciated the lack of disability within this production. For a character as despicable as Richard III, portraying him as an able bodied person was a pleasant surprise given the political context. It allowed me to recognize that every decision Richard III makes and everything he says is truly his own. The lack of disability showed that there was no external factor giving him the validation for having as awful thoughts as he does, such as his perversely sexual thoughts and actions towards women in the show such as the mayor. 


Speaking of women, I loved the casting for this show. As a woman actively living in the current American political climate, I worry that my voice will be silenced and my rights will be retracted. By casting Richard III with an all female and nonbinary cast, I felt seen. Having women portray characters such as Richard III and Buckingham, it felt that some of the power was handed back to every scared woman in America and the rest of the world. So much so that I was brought to tears. I have never been so moved by a work of live theater, and I am glad to have felt so validated. 


One aspect of the show that I particularly want to address is the costuming of Richard III. At the beginning of the show the actress who was playing Richard III wore a strap-on. Throughout the show and Richard III’s rise in power, the strap-on became more extravagant, at one time it was even bedazzled. I took that as Richard III as well as many corrupt, male politicians, lead with the privileges that being born a male provides them with. All of his costuming throughout the show was fantastic though, particularly when he was walking around with an open coat and no shirt underneath. The best way for me to describe the costumes that he was wearing nearing the second half of the show is how Ken dressed in the Barbie Movie after discovering the patriarchy. Richard III may as well have tattooed “I hate women” on his forehead, especially with him saying things such as “Foul, wrinkled witch what mak’st thou in my sight?” (1.3.168) and “But in your daughter’s womb I bury them.” (4.4.446) I could not find this within the text, but there was a line that Richard III spoke towards the end of the show about women obeying him, and as awful that sounds there was something even worse that went along with it. During this line of dialogue, Richard III addressed women as an “it”, and I felt sick. That particular line of dialogue helped to exemplify Richard III’s misogynistic tendencies and show that he does not see women as humans rather as pawns in his game of gaining power. 


The use of BSL (British Sign Language) within the show was fantastic. Though BSL was used previously in the show, I found it to be incredibly effective in act 5, scene 3 when the ghosts of Richard III’s victims haunt him in his dreams. When the ghost of Lady Anne delivers her lines, she delivers them all in BSL. To me, this was to show to Richard that by killing her, he effectively silenced her voice - literally. If it is the same in England as it is in America, not many people understand sign language. By having Lady Anne deliver her lines in BSL, that meant that majority of the audience could not understand what she was saying thus meaning her voice was also silenced to the audience, not just the characters within the production. 


The costuming of other characters and the ensemble within the show also did wonders to align with the political vision of Richard III. There were characters wearing police vests, modern day shoes and camouflage vests. What really stuck out to me though was the red baseball caps and cowboy boots. Given the alignment of Richard III and Donald Trump, it was very clear that the red hats were meant to be MAGA hats, as they were only worn by characters who supported Richard III. 


All in all, I wish I had the opportunity to see Richard III at the globe again. When you watch live theater you miss out on a lot of smaller nuances within the show, as your eyes can only focus on so much. I wonder what new things I would pick up on if I was to see it again, and if it would have the same impact on me, or help me to find more similarities within this production and the current political climate. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Taming of the Shrew Performance Review

  Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is, in my opinion, one of his most problematic and offensive plays. Though this play has been staged for many centuries, it is unclear to even the most knowledgeable Shapespearians if this is Shakespeare’s original text. The Taming of the Shrew was first published in the first Folio of Shakespeare’s works, but a similar play titled The Taming of a Shrew was published in a Quarto roughly thirty years prior. The two texts are similar in many ways, such as overarching storylines and characters, yet the two are also different from one another, such as the character Christopher Sly having more of an involvement in the text of The Taming of a Shrew . Regardless of whichever text is being performed or if it is a combination of the two, scholars (and myself) believe that this is the one Shakespeare play that should not be staged.  After a quick Google search, I found that the term “shrew” has been used since the 11th century, possibly even e...
Read more

Pericles Performance Review

  I can officially say that I have seen the most avant garde play after seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Pericles , and I loved it. The play Pericles is about the grief of losing your family, and being lucky enough to find them again. Obviously there is much more that goes into this play than losing and finding your family, but when I think about Pericles , I think about family. When originally reading the program for the Royal Shakespeare Company production, it made it seem that their specific production would revolve heavily around leadership - both good and bad - but after watching their production, I did not really find that to be the forefront of their approach. It seemed to me that they focused more on the loss and reuniting of family. All I could think about while watching act 5, scene 1 was “ that’s how you stage a family reunion!” When Pericles realized that Marina was his daughter, I had actual chills all over my body; it was done correctly in my opi...
Read more

I toured the Globe!

Image
      Today was one of the days that I have been so excited for because we got to tour Shakespeare's Globe! (Don't let the name be deceiving, they put on other plays that are not written by Shakespeare.) We began by looking at a new exhibition the Globe has going on, and it is all about Shakespeare's past as well as the history of the theatre. I really enjoyed going through it because it was interactive! They had tiny boxes all containing smells of the Borough Market - which I learned in the oldest fruit and vegetable market in London! They also had noise machines that were similar to how sound effects would have been produced back in Shakespeare's time such as wind storms and thunder. I find it super cool to learn about London's history dating back to the seventeenth-century and seeing what is still around today.  Inside the exhibition 
Read more