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

Help feed the actors. . . buy tickets.

Our Program Manager, Laura Vogt, made a BIG mistake.  HUGE.

She gave me access to our Brown Paper Ticket service.

Brown Paper Tickets is a ticketing service committed to fair trade and community service and all that fun stuff.  They also charge far less in terms of ticketing service fees than other online ticketing services.  So we like them.  You should like them, too.

Anyway. . . it’s the last night of Complete Works (Abridged) down at Severance and so I’m puttering about my kitchen with my laptop open on the table watching the ticket sales numbers go up and up on a fairly regular basis.

I’m now a bit obsessed with checking the numbers, truthfully.  I’m supposed to be doing my dishes and making Peppermint Bark, and yet. . . I keep checking that Sales Report button to see the numbers go up.

Finally, I decided that it wasn’t a bad thing.  Not obsessive at all.  Instead, I tell myself that every time a ticket is sold an actor gets a free meal somewhere.

Keep that in mind when searching for entertainment options this year.  Help feed the actors:  buy tickets.  Donate. Volunteer.

Happy Holidays!

Heather Parish
Artistic Director

Fresno Bee Review of ‘Hamlet’

Jay Parks as Claudius and Adam Meredith as Hamlet

Culture Critic Donald Munro’s very positive review of ‘Hamlet’ is up at the Beehive

and so are the requisite disparate comments. Woodward Shakespeare Festival has found itself to be a lightning rod of theatrical discussion this season on Munro’s blogs. While WSF always bears in mind that the few people who comment online are only a small fraction of our audience, we do attempt to judge the merit of all feedback we get on productions and put them in a context for our company. So we encourage discussion from our audiences in any online arena. . . for public discourse on theatre can only help theatre as a whole. And we’re here to serve our community through the best theatre we know how to present.

From our own point of view, Woodward Shakespeare has worked extremely hard to improve the production values on ‘Hamlet’, truly feel that our actively involved talent has learned and grown under the very capable direction of Arlene Shulman, and is proud to have been able to give such challenging roles as Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, and Ophelia to actors who wish to tackle such megaliths. This is the direction we wish to take the festival: pushing our current perceived limitations, giving voice to perhaps unorthodox views of the texts, and taking a few reasonable risks.

And this show was a risk for us. Many people come through the doors not knowing what to expect from ‘Hamlet’. Will it be depressing? Hard to understand? Uninteresting? But the fact is that our Friday and Saturday night audiences were so fully engaged in the production that only a handful left at the second intermission and those who remained were INSPIRED to remain. They laughed at some of the most subtle of jokes, listened intensely, and rewarded the actors with a standing O. That tells me that we haven’t entirely missed the mark on this one. In fact, most indications are to the contrary.

We know that we cannot please every audience member that comes in the door and that some of those not-pleased people will ultimately find themselves commenting– often anonymously– on a blog somewhere. We absolutely respect their right to do so, and even encourage the public discourse. However, WE reserve the right to dismiss criticism we find less than useful, specific, objective, or seems to be more about creating derision than in improving our offerings.

In fact, to anyone who wishes for better shows from us, we give an open invite to become involved (or re-involved) with the festival and create a real investment in our growth.