Actor revives Shakespeare’s epic villain
Van Meenen tries to find humanity in Richard III
RICHARD III Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan presents Richard III
When: July 6 to Aug. 19 Tickets: $16-$24
Box office: ticketmaster.ca or 306.652.9100
Rob van Meenen vaguely remembers the first time he played a villain. It was Grade 3. He wore a black cape and a moustache in the vein of Snidely Whiplash. He remembers doing an evil laugh.
“I’m pretty sure I must have taken a delight in that,” he said.
Since then, the Saskatoon actor has racked up a resume filled with jerks, selfish lovers and characters who are pure evil. In his latest role, van Meenen takes on one of Shakespeare’s iconic villains, Richard III. In terms of body count and age of victims, the dastardly king might be his most despicable role yet.
Van Meenen isn’t entirely sure why directors see him as a bad guy, much to the chagrin of his mother.
“Is it the moles? I have no idea. When I started off, my earliest roles in university were usually the nice guy, boy next door types. I don’t know what happened but then it became druggies, criminals, ne’er-do-wells and all that,” he said.
Though it can be a lot of fun to play the baddie, van Meenen is wary of falling into the trap of playing a caricature rather than a real person. He doesn’t want to be a one-note Whiplash, but rather an individual with myriad emotions and experiences.
In rehearsal, van Meenen has worked to ground Richard in reality, using the character’s boredom and his poor relationship with his mother to explore his human side.
“Of man or woman’s ills I think boredom is potentially the most dangerous. When we’re bored we can go two ways, either into apathy or into destruction. I think clearly in Richard’s case it’s the latter. He goes the path of destruction,” said van Meenen.
As the play’s “unreliable narrator” van Meenen said it’s important to bring the audience on side, at least for a little while.
“I do think he has to charm the audience a bit, not all the way through. He might lose the audience in his actions, but you at least have to start with ‘Hey everybody, come along for this ride.’”
Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan’s interpretation of the play, directed by Shakespeare veteran Skye Brandon, is set in its historical time, the late 1480s. Van Meenen said although the Bard’s histories don’t get produced as often as some of his other fare, they are rich, layered stories.
“What is appealing is it really is a family drama. It’s like the Dallas or the Dynasty or the Falcon Crest,” he said. “This is a battle amongst one family tree. It’s a battle of uncles, nephews and cousins.”
As one of Shakespeare’s longest plays, Richard III is rarely performed unabridged. Van Meenen said some of the smaller roles have been condensed into one. But notably, the production leaves in Queen Margaret’s scenes, which are often cut by other companies.
“If you lose her, you don’t get that sense of direness to everything,” van Meenen said.
In his third season with Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, van Meenen also plays Sir Andrew in the company’s production of Twelfth Night. It’s a nice break from villainy for the actor.
“It’s 180 degrees different. It’s the fop character so it’s the other side of the mirror of Richard III. It will give me a nice little sojourn so I can gear up for the other show in between, and I have just as much fun doing it,” he said.
Van Meenen said he relishes the change to be on the SOS stage all summer.
“When I was growing up in Saskatoon my first ideas of what acting was were from coming to the tent,” he said. “That was my first, that I can vividly remember, experience with theatre.”
I do think he has to charm the audience a bit, not all the way through.