The idea of an “all-female, gender-fluid, disability-forward” staging of “Richard III” — as New York Classical Theater describes its new production of Shakespeare’s tragedy about the monstrously degenerate Plantagenet king — excites. Will the protagonist, who likes to “decant my own deformities,” once again show us how much value society places on women’s appearance? Will the Duke of Gloucester be reimagined as a bloodthirsty assassin like the bloodthirsty Villanelle from “Killing Eve?” Will it force us to consider discrimination against disabled people at the royal court? As realized in this risk-shy adaptation directed by Stephen Burdman, the answer is none of the above.
This “Richard III” which plays in New York parks through July 9, feints at novelty while offering little originality – the actors all inhabit their characters’ genders as originally conceived. The title role is played by Delaney Feener, a strong actor with a “limb difference,” as the press material notes. But with her shortened right arm hidden under a cloak, Feener’s Richard doesn’t immediately register as a “boar,” “bottle spider,” “dirty forest toad,” or any of the bestial chunks he’s repeatedly likened to by other characters. That could be a valid choice when examined carefully, but even after Richard reveals that foreshortened arm to us and says he’s “determined to prove a bad guy,” we gain little insight into his psychology; it is unclear whether this line is a boastful advance directive or a victim’s lament.
While certain scenes are understandably shortened or omitted — a requirement in compressed versions even longer than these two hours — Queen Margaret’s removal from a production starring women and gender-nonconforming actors is less forgivable. While often seen as a peripheral character, she serves as a linchpin in the Wars of the Roses and appears in all of Shakespeare’s first series of historical plays, her curses having the power of prophecy. Along with Queen Elizabeth (a regal Kristen Calgaro) and the Duchess of York (Pamela Sabaugh), Margaret traditionally forms a trinity of grieving women usefully recalling the three Fates of Furies.
This itinerant adaptation, which requires spectators to pick up their own blankets or folding chairs and walk to different areas of the parks, also doesn’t make for the most accessible production. A change of scenery sometimes proves dramatically coincidental, as when a tree provides convenient cover for one of many beheadings, but more often disrupts the momentum of proceedings. When Richard is finally removed from power and swallowed up by the night, we should be relieved to see his reign of terror come to an end. But we don’t: the problem with this “Richard III” is that his villain is not a “boar”, but a bore.
Richard III
Through July 9 at various New York City parks; nyclassical.org. Running time: 2 hours.
This review is supported by Critical Minded, an initiative to invest in the work of cultural critics from historically underrepresented backgrounds.