"Richard III" at Single Carrot: Success and Excess

SHOW INFORMATION:  Through August 3.  Thurs – Sat at 7:30PM, Sun at 2:30PM.  Performances are at Load of Fun, 120 W. North Ave.  Tickets are $10 - $12, including complimentary beer and wine (valid ID required).  Information and reservations: 443.844.9253, singlecarrot@gmail.com or www.singlecarrot.com 

◊◊◊ 1/2 out of five.  2 hours, 45 minutes plus intermission.  Onstage smoking, sexual innuendo, stylized violence, including use of a switchblade. 

Richard III starts and ends with two of literature's most famous quotes: "Now is the winter of our discontent" starts the show; "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"  Even knowing that the plot is convoluted and action-packed (Single Carrot provides a two page synopsis of ACT ONE for our reading pleasure), one has no idea how long it will be between the two quotes!  In the nearly three hours from start to finish, this production pretty much runs the gamut between high art and directorial excess.  It seems that director J. Buck Jabaily has thrown everything he ever learned in college into this production, and as you might guess, some of it works and some of it doesn't.  One thing is certain, however.  Mr. Jabaily's theatre company is, acting-wise up to all of the challenges of doing Shakespeare for the masses.  The final show of their inaugural season, Richard III (running through this Sunday) represents the only semi-dent in am otherwise hugely successful debut. 

In a tiny space, shorter in length than a bowling lane, and only slightly wider, one must expect an intimate production.  Walls bathed in black material and accented with red (including a mysterious red line down the center of the floor) add to an almost claustrophobic intensity, with the colors suggesting doom, violence and passion.  This play has all three and then some.  Designed and lit by Joey Bromfield, the set represents what has become a Single Carrot hallmark – frugality and small budget does not mean a lack of artistic quality.  In fact, here, it is just the opposite.  Designer and director have clearly collaborated to make the most of the space, including several scenes that take place over our heads on well placed, if dangerous looking platforms.  Costumer Emily Kallay has also taken the red and black theme to heart, only using other colors to help use recognize those not in allegiance with the title character.  Natalie Bixby is credited in the program as a movement coach, and her work is displayed prominently in some of Jabaily's more potent (if sometimes overly obscure scenes) with the company approximating battle and changes of side with highly stylized movements that are reminiscent of slow motion tai chi and various other Asian-influenced styles. 

Where Mr. Jabaily's direction goes overboard – this is definitely a thinking man's production – is when he piles on too much creativity into any one scene.  A case where it works is during a pivotal meeting between Richard and his minions, where they don't look at each other.  And it adds a fine layer to the dreams of Richard and his adversary, Richmond.  But in that same scene, it becomes excessive – the cast writhes around him on the floor, whispering "guilty", and behaving more like the witches in Macbeth than anything else.  Up close it gets a tad uncomfortable.  Then there are the beheadings – there are several.  They are staged interestingly, with the soon to be beheaded shackled and blindfolded center stage, muttering last words right up until the axe falls and they slump over dead.  Stylized, well-staged, and thought-provoking.  But then, they go one step too far – the executioner is chopping a head after all – a head of cabbage, which ceremoniously walked across stage with the import of a wedding.  The first time it happened, nervous titters and smiles went around the audience.  The second time, there were a few, "get real"s heard; and the third time was greeted with a "here we go again!"  Remember the size of the space - you can hear every audience reaction.  I may never look at cole slaw the same way again.  (Of course, the executioner bit, in my mind, anyway, is unnecessarily dense with meaning or intended meaning anyway – played by a woman wearing a flapper's fringe dress, she offers the kiss of death, literally…)  Honestly, a surer hand with the material, covered over by far less staging would have made this just as clear, if not clearer, than it is.  Shakespeare offers challenges to modern audiences to be sure, but it still shouldn't be this much work. 

Still, the cast of 8 actors, most playing four or more roles, deliver their lines expertly and with modern inflection, rendering most passages easily understood.  Each and every member lends his or her specific talents to the whole, but always with an eye toward an ensemble feel.  Local favorite Richard Goldberg gets to play a range of emotions in his four roles, but it is his fear later in the play that resonated with me.  Giti Jabaily is also quite skilled in the sheer variety of her roles – the mourning but easily seduced Lady Anne, and the seductive executioner, Ratcliff are among the roles she carries out. 

Aldo Pantoja is particularly effective in his more sinister, dark roles, and offers a certain sensuality as "the masked man", a role that he does well – the man can move – but which gets lost as the audience tries to figure out who the heck he is or what he's supposed to mean.  Jessica Garret scores well with her indignant and later grieving Queen Elizabeth – she is both regal and an everywoman and it really works.  She also brings in a hint of humor with her role as Lord Mayor. 

Elliott Rauh, resembling Christian Bale, offers up a series of distinguishable characters, most notably, Hastings and later a murderer.  His facial expressions, coupled with significantly different deliveries, make his characters easy to distinguish both on sight and by ear.  Another local talent, actor/playwright Rich Espey is similarly effective, especially when he transitions (during one very brief blackout) between Clarence and the physically ill King Edward IV.  Genevieve de Mahy, however, is the biggest standout in an ensemble of standouts, beginning with her riveting portrayal of the mad soothsayer, Margaret, who prophesizes all that will be Richard's downfall.  Her wild eyes and messy hair are by the surface of a complex and eerie performance.  Later, she is equally engrossing as young royal, Prince Edward, at once believable as a boy child, and finally as Richard's chief adversary, Richmond, here played as a man of quite confidence and strength. 

Brendan Ragan is an altogether terrific choice to play Richard.  Here, he emphasizes the arrogance and tunnel-visioned ambition of a man both on his way to the top and tragically about to hit bottom.  You know from the start that his will be a diffeRent_6862">Rent Richard, as he addresses the audience as a fully healthy, if impossibly cocky.  Then later, for a "audience" of his peers, he staggers around only suggesting any kind of physical deformity with a bent leg and a cane.  Only when the going gets really tough, does Ragan even suggest the fullness of Richard's physical issues.  That cockiness lures you in, then repulses you – the actor has wisely chosen moments to make us interested in him.  Villains are not people we root for, but we have to be inhely interested and even care about them for their villainy to work, after all. 

And so, with Richard III, Single Carrot Theatre has effectively thrown its hat into the ring of local companies producing Shakespeare.  While one is certainly glad they have done so, without doing the billionth production of Romeo and Juliet or A Midsummer Night's Dream, one hopes that their next effort with the Bard won't try so hard to be everything.

 

PHOTOS by J. Buck Jabaily and Single Carrot Theatre.  All photos feature Brendan Ragan, center, surrounded by the ensemble of Richard III.

 

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