On Reviews, Technical Failures, and Riding Forward

from Heather Parish
Artistic Director

As I write this I am awaiting the publication of the Fresno Bee’s review of Richard III.  Normally, I don’t wait at the computer for such things to come out; I get really busy doing something else.  I usually know what the reviews are going to say on any given production I am involved with.

But this one is a bit up in the air.  Last night, when Mr. Munro was in the audience, the generator that powers our lights went out for the second time.  The first time we thought it was a fuel issue and corrected it.  The second time?  No clue.  Turns out the generator’s alternator was kaput.  Nothing we could have done to forsee that or properly diagnose it before the show.  Thems the breaks.

But whenever that happens, it automatically throws off a show’s performance.  The actors have to hold while we rig backup lighting and it is on their minds throughout the rest of their performance.  While the performance that they continued to give was excellent in my view– they’re a very well prepared cast– the technical failure can’t help but throw off the mojo.

So, we wait to see how we are reviewed under those circumstances.  I recommend to all cast and crew members NOT to respond to any public criticism as it doesn’t serve the artform or the performance at all.  But I am tempted, as I wait, to take up for them now.  No excuses, just the knowledge of how different the circumstances are for actors working outdoors in a temporary space.

But I cannot do even that.  We aren’t a “pansy-ass” troupe.  We take our hits with good grace, mount up again and ride on.  We learn from the mistakes that make us appear less than we really are and hopefully fix them (a new generator is on the way today) to become more than we once were.

This cast is amazing.  I hope theatre-goers and Shakespeare-lovers come out to the Park to see them and the passion they’ve put into this play.  Every time something has gone wrong it is the blessing of the audience and the willingness of the cast to continue that saves us.  That connection constitutes poetic faith and it is what theatre is about.

So, whatever Mr. Munro has to say– good and bad– we will hear with a spirit of generosity and a desire to continue to give free Shakespeare to Fresno.

And tonight, we will check and double check everything for a terrific Friday night performance.

Take some time to join us this month.  Find out what is really happening out there when all the technical riff raff is stripped away– terrific performances in space and time and body.

That’s really all you need.

Notes from the Glen: James Sherrill III

James Sherrill, who currently appears as Richmond in WSF’s production of Richard III, shared this charming moment with an audience member after last night’s show:

Best Donation… Ever.

via Facebook

I was the last one to come out from backstage on opening night of Richard III. I grabbed my donation bucket and started wandering through the dwindling crowd, trying to catch eyes and thank them for coming to the show.

I was talking with someone when a little girl, no more than eight or so, walked up and tried to put a coin in my bucket. She missed, and the coin fell into the grass.

I kneeled down and we spent a few moments looking in vain for her coin, which I assumed had come from her parents. After a little while, I told the little pigtailed cutie that I would come back and find it later. She would have none of that. She said, “I’ll give you another one”, and pulled a little coinpurse from her pocket, pulled a shiny dime out of her own allowance, and dropped it in my bucket.

She tried to walk away after that, but I asked her if she’d like a hug. She must have heard my heart crying out, because she agreed.

Sorry, Woodward. You’re not getting this dime.

The Conversation: Richard III FAQ

The Quick FAQ on WSF’s production of Richard III

The following questions have been asked of Heather Parish, the show’s director, multiple times during the summer over drinks, during dinners, at meetings and mixers around town.  We have constructed them in the form of a conversation:

Which one is Richard III?

HP: He’s the one Ian McKellan played in that movie adaptation from around 10 years ago—the Fascist England adaptation.  He’s also the one they thought killed the little kids in the Tower of London.  Technically, Richard III was a ruthless and shrewd man who schemed his way to the throne of England only to lose it a short time later.

So, it’s a history play then?

HP: Not strictly.  Shakespeare took many, many liberties with history when creating this story.

How much of it is true?

HP: We’re treating it all as if it were fiction.  While a few plot points bear some relation to actual history, the play Shakespeare wrote in terms of character, timeline and motivation is largely fiction.

We’re more interested in the themes and questions Shakespeare’s play asks than in portraying the actual history of Richard’s reign in England.  That’s an entirely different play.

So, what questions are you asking?

HP: The same questions Shakespeare always asks:  What does it mean to be human?  How should we act? What should we do?

. . .  Seriously, what questions. . . ?

HP: *sigh.. . * Questions of power and seduction, fear and action, loss and gain. . . There are many other questions that come out of how we are telling the story and what the audience brings to the table.  We try not to answer the questions. . . we feel that the asking of the questions is important so that the audience can live the human experience of the play vicariously and try to answer the questions for themselves.

What’s your concept?  What time period are you setting it in?

HP: I don’t usually deal in straight concepts. I usually have an approach at the beginning of rehearsal and the concepts come out of working with the actors and what they bring to the table.  For the visual context, the aesthetic is Elizabethan turned a bit on its side.

So, it’s Elizabethan. . . isn’t that about 100 years after the reign of Richard III?

HP: Elizabethan costuming and staging is the aesthetic—the world of the play we’re producing in the now.  But again, we’re treating the play as fiction—a story of what havoc one man can bring upon a society.  That idea is universal and can be played in a number of different time periods, costumes, and settings.

And you have lots of women in men’s roles.  Are they playing men?

HP: No, they are playing characters.  Unless a character calls for a specific gender relationship to another character—wife/husband, mother/father, sister/brother, etc.—I will cast either men or women into the role and let the actor decide how and when to use their gender point of view or sexuality to further the story and flesh out the world of the play.  I cast based on the ability of the actor to tell the story effectively and try to see a variety of strengths and abilities in various people to create interesting characters.  It makes for bolder choices in storytelling and can really turn a show on its ear.

So, Buckingham’s a woman?

HP: *sigh*. . . . yes, the character of Buckingham wears a skirt and brings all of those societal assumptions toward a person with no spouse or children to speak of.

So, what are you trying to say by that?

HP: As a person who wears skirts and also has no spouse or children to speak of, no comment.  I’d rather the audience ask what they themselves read into it.

And, how’s the show coming along?

HP: Quite well, if I do say so.  But we won’t truly know anything about the show until the final character enters the scene:  the audience.

This FAQ can be reproduced publicly for WSF Richard III promotional purposes only.  Quotes taken from this FAQ should be verbatim and used in proper context.  ©Heather Parish 2009