Sara examines king’s reputation
RICHARD III: Bogeyman. Villain. Evil incarnate. Or is he? What if he is she? What if the ‘hideous…. deformed, hobbling, hunchbacked cripple’ is portrayed by someone funny, female, feminist, with the same form of scoliosis?
How might the story, the acting and the character change when explored by a disabled actress with deadly comic timing and a dislike for horses?
Riotously inventive and joyously irreverent, Richard III Redux is not a production of Shakespeare’s classic, but an interweaving of stories about acting, difference, and a maligned historical figure told by unreliable narrator Sara Beer.
She takes on Richard as a solo performer in a number of guises, interspersed with video and live camera sequences.
Sara Beer said: “I am extremely lucky to have worked with Kaite O’Reilly and Phillip Zarrilli on several projects over the years.
“Playing Richard III is not an opportunity I ever expected to arise but when Kaite suggested it as a way of exploring the many aspects of this much maligned character and the portrayal throughout history by nondisabled actors I jumped at the chance.
“It is a hugely enjoyable process as well as a challenge like no other I have experienced. This production will be anything but traditional, but I am sure it will be thought provoking as well as entertaining.”
Written by O’Reilly, the production is directed by Phillip Zarrill I, with videography by Cardiff-based filmmaker Paul Whittaker.
Kaite O’Reilly is a Wales-based playwright who works internationally, with a specialism in disability arts and culture.
Kaite said: “Despite historical proof to the contrary, for hundreds of years Richard III has been the embodiment of evil - the bogeyman smothering innocent children, his misshapen exterior reflecting a twisted inner psyche. A long line of distinguished actors have used considerable ingenuity to portray this ‘twisted-body-twisted-mind’ – and so effectively, a fear and distrust of physical difference has become ingrained. Shakespeare has a lot to answer for – he had Richard III stitched up – and I want to unpick some of these stitches, to reconsider the historical impact of a the hellish ‘bottled spider’, and to have some fun with actorly depiction, deconstructing Richard with a female comedic performer with a disability perspective.”
Phillip Zarrilli, Artistic Director of The Llanarth Group, said: “Richard III Redux is not a performance of Shakespeare’s play. Rather, it is a roughing up, a re-visitation of the problematic set of assumptions and premises on which Shakespeare (falsely) (mis) shaped his Richard as ‘a poisonous bunch-back’d toad’, ‘deform’d, unfinish’d… villain’. The performance will be a mosaic with alternative lenses/voices/roles through which Sara Beer’s ‘Richard III’ will be remixed. I loved working with Sara Beer on Kaite O’Reilly’s Cosy last year at Wales Millennium Centre, and to work with her again on this production is an absolute delight. She lights up the stage.”
Richard III Redux or Sara Beer [IS/ NOT] Richard III is a Llanarth Group production, supported by Arts Council Wales. The production will be at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on March 14-15, and Theatr Clwyd, Mold, on March 19-20.