On a dark and grim stage, The Porters of Hellsgate present Shakespeare's Richard III, brought to life by Charles Pasternak, director, and the remarkable acting of Gus Krieger as the hunch-backed, malevolent Duke of Gloucester. Physically resembling a toad referred to by several of the women, bent over with an enormous hump on his back (by Jessica Pasternak), in a long-haired wig and walking with two canes, he wears well the mantle of evil intent, while at the same time, is eminently watchable. (Jessica Pasternak also made costumes out of dark suits simply by use of a white sash across the chests of the noblemen.)
The play opens with the familiar "Now is the winter of our discontent," uttered by Richard. One by one he crosses off on a chalkboard rivals to the crown dispatched by his henchmen.
Whether one can understand Shakespeare's florid language depends entirely on the enunciation and natural cadence in which it is spoken. Succeeding rather well are Anna Bolt, even in her emotional outbursts as Queen Margaret, Jack Leahy as tragic Buckingham, Thomas Bigley as Clarence, Eddie Castuera in the dual roles of Catesby and King Edward, and Sasha Pasternak as Young Prince Edward noticeable for her animated facial expression. "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" called out by King Richard in the second act escape attempt, and other quotations such as "Off with his head!" were distinctly understood.
Director Charles Pasternak makes sword play look real and moves the large cast effortlessly.
Shakespeare's tragedies certainly don't lack for shadows, but this production stretches things to the conceptual limit. The set is black. The costumes are black. The virtually nonexistent lighting keeps a great deal of the show in the black. And with more than just a little irony, actor Gus Krieger inhabits the titular role as though he were channeling Jack Black. Perhaps the eye-rolling, tongue-wagging, and hair-flipping were considered inventive choices, but the uncanny resemblance is distractingly evident.
These affectations paradoxically mar what is the show's sturdiest performance. With but a few brief exceptions among the other actors, Krieger exhibits the truest command of the play's language and intent. Jack Leahy's conspiring Duke of Buckingham, Thomas Bigley's occasionally exciting Earl of Richmond, and Anna Bolt's curse-rendering Queen Margaret provide at best momentary flashes in this otherwise tedious presentation.
The rest of the company, often confusingly miscast in multiple roles, deliver their parts on a level not much higher than that of the average high school theatre department.
Still, the true culprit here is Charles Pasternak's woefully lackluster direction. Scenes feel like self-contained vignettes rather than mounting ladder rungs that lead to an inevitable conclusion. Performers seem downright self-conscious as they wander aimlessly at times about the barren stage. There's even a touch of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, as Krieger, with the aid of a pair of offset-handled aluminum canes, drags himself stage right every now and then to mark off the names of his dead adversaries on a wall-mounted chalkboard.
But in what must surely rank as Pasternak's most questionable artistic choice, creative editing has all but destroyed Richmond's and Richard's individually rousing addresses to their respective armies. These self-contained speeches were intended to inspire soldiers to battle. Instead, they have all the power of a limp handshake a
Actor Gus Krieger knows that Richard III must be a vivid, diabolical figure, and he creates an indelible image, with a mane of shoulder-length hair and a prodigious hump, skittering around spiderlike on two crutches. It's a commendable effort, but Krieger doesn't yet have the authority and charisma to dominate this huge, sprawling, highly rhetorical play. Director Charles Pasternak provides a brisk and efficient production, but it tends toward the generic, lacking nuance and a discernible point of view. Partially this is due to the youth of the cast: Eddie Castuera is an almost baby-faced King Edward and Anna Bolt, a startlingly youthful Queen Margaret. Any play of this size requires doubling of roles, but when the same actor, without change of costume or makeup, appears as multiple characters, it's hard to keep track of who's who. And the all-black costumes (occasionally relieved by a white or red sash) tend to make the actors seem interchangeable. The weapons, however, are splendid, and the battle scenes at the end are athletic, featuring Richmond (Thomas Bigley, who provides a welcome vocal clarity) and Richard in a bizarre hand-to-hand combat that's usually kept offstage.
I saw Richard III last night and it was pretty entertaining. It was about the same quality as their Julius Caesar (Kathy liked it more). It’s got some intense action in the second act and a classic Shakespearean style throughout. The story is hard to follow, but I got the gist of what was happening.
Gus played a crazy awesome Richard. Richard walks on two canes with a hump and two deformed legs. He is on stage pretty much throughout the play and his character never wavers. He spoke his asides to quickly (as Gus tends to do), but for the most part he spoke in a way that was easy to understand. His Richard though incredibly evil is played with a sympathetic edge, his emotion split between being humble and apologetic too insane depraved evil.
The rest of the cast plays their secondary characters in a standard classical Shakespearean tone. Dylan and Annie's murder scene was the clearest and most entertaining scene. And the sword fight at the end will make you cringe, especially the deaths.
Overall the show is pretty good for a minimalist Shakespeare tragedy, but Gus (especially if you are friends with him) makes it worth the traffic it takes to get to the theatre and the $15 to get in.
