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Shakespeare’s most evil and eloquent villain is going to receive an industrial overhaul courtesy of the Vassar Shakespeare Troupe. From May 7 to 9, the Troupe will present “Richard III” at a unique performance space located between the Old Laundry Building and the Computer Center, across the road from Swift Hall, at 8 p.m.The industrial space, with its road and fire escape framed by brick buildings and the towering smokestack, is an ideal setting for a play about levels, hierarchies, ascension and descent.
“The play is all about transition, power and energy. At the beginning, one king is killed, and another takes power. These shifts happen throughout [the play],” explained director Nate Silver ’10 on how the Troupe selected an industrial theme before they found their venue. He continued, “There was a lot of desire in the group to break away from the flowery Shakespeare plays we’ve done in years past. We wanted something raw, gritty.”
The Troupe presents one play each year, usually in the spring and always outdoors. Last year the Troupe performed “The Winter’s Tale” in the orchard. The year before, they staged “The Taming of the Shrew” in front of Ely Hall. Silver described the unusual venue as a “royal construction site,” challenges the audience seated on the grass to see the setting as both finished and unfinished. “That’s the core concept,” said producer and artistic director Anna Raff ’09. “Is it being constructed or deconstructed? An industrial take seemed to lend itself to that. It’s very much a found space, and it’s exciting to stage a play in an unexpected area, one that is not seen as theatrical.”
“People walk by when we rehearse,” Silver added, “and it sort of gives its own publicity. It brings Shakespeare to campus in a different way when you plop it down in the middle of campus. It’s not in a theatre. The audience has to find it.”
Additional effects from set designer Craig Henchey ’09, such as wood scaffolding, in tandem with cage lights and bare bulbs from lighting designer Mike Faba ’10, will enhance the construction vibe without cementing the production in any specific time or place. Sound designer Adam Russin ’11, who is not officially a part of the Troupe, composed atmospheric music that employs metal and creaking noises to heighten and stylize moments, while costume designer Elizabeth Labrocca ’09 fashioned outfits that accentuate femininity and masculinity, with corsets for women and square shoulders for men.
With 23 people working on the show, 11 Troupe actors and 17 Troupe members in total, it’s a fairly large production. As the play features more than 40 characters, most actors will take on three or four roles, and children of the faculty will play the youngest parts.“It’s an interesting challenge to the actors,” said Raff. “It also forces the audience to question what these various characters played by the same actor may have in common.”
Christopher Mykles ’09 stars as the physically deformed and morally despicable Richard III who murders his way to the throne. The character is an antihero, soliloquizing during the play’s exposition, “I am determinèd to prove a villain.”
Silver thought it important to present Richard III as pathetic and piteous, complete with hunchback and cane. “The audience needs to be on the same page as him for that to work,” Silver said. “There’s a reason why the play requires that to make sense.”
Written around 1591, “Richard III” is one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays and is also his second longest after “Hamlet.” Due to its lengthiness, Silver judiciously cut the play to create an abridged version based on the original Folio text.
The play mixes two of Shakespeare’s popular genres: tragedy and history. It combines the simplicity of a history and the bloodiness of a tragedy to follow the rise and fall of an introspective psychopath hell-bent on the crown. “There are no subplots, and it’s really accessible even if you don’t understand everything,” said Silver. “This is what makes it suitable for scholars and for seventh graders.”
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