Richard II

My first semester of grad school draws to a close. As I drink my morning coffee and get ready to resume work on a paper I'm writing about censorship of the deposition scene in Richard II, I decided to spend a little more time on my lines for the next production I'll be working on, which, not coincidentally, is Richard II.  That led me to further procrastinate by writing this blog post. I've neglected the old blog while I was in school. Directing Doctor Faustus and playing Coriolanus while in grad school (and working) has kept me running for the past few months, so I'm indulging myself with a blog post this morning.

A few words about my new company, Poor Shadows of Elysium, are in order, I guess. I call it "my" company not because I'm trying to claim credit for all that's happening. I have a great team of people working with me on this, each of whom are invaluable. I call it mine because I started it, I gathered the team, and as of right now, the vision and direction are mine. If what we do is a success, it will be a credit to everyone involved. If it's a failure, the blame can only be mine, because I can't imagine a better group of people to help me realize my vision. I hope this company will continue to grow and evolve.

When I started working on RII, I had a few preconceptions about the play that have already changed, without even having the first reading yet. Chiefly, I thought the conflict in the play was ambiguous, that it wasn't clear whether Bolingbroke or Richard was the hero. After scanning the lines, I don't believe that any more. Richard's verse is very regular, overall, even when he's obviously in a heightened emotional state (which is always). Bolingbroke's verse, on the contrary, is full of irregular endings. By the time I finished scanning Act III, Scene 1, when Bolingbroke speaks to Bushy and Green before they are executed, I felt strongly that Bolingbroke was a lying bastard. Although he gives reasons for the executions, I think they're bullshit. His eyes are on the prize, and he's Machiavelling his way to the throne.

In our production of RII, we're taking an unusual approach. I wanted to do a coin flip at the start of each show, to determine which actor plays Richard and which actor plays Bolingbroke. This was inspired in part by the 1973 John Barton production, where two actors switched the role every night, and in part by the ASC's recent coin-toss Hamlet (the coin toss determined whether they would do the quarto version or the folio version of the play.) Also, honestly, I wanted Poor Shadows' first production to be a bold one. In many ways, I think the play is about how the crown wears the king - how it affects both Richard and Henry, and how interchangeable they are. Because of the coin flip and what the play says about the two characters who wear the crown, I wanted an actor who was very different from me in the other role. I think we have that in Aaron Black.

Aaron has an MFA in acting from The New School. Obviously, he's very well-versed in acting techniques. My approach to acting, by contrast, is almost entirely based on the text. I sometimes supplement my work on a play by bringing in things outside the script, but the things I consider are normally things that might have been known to the audience, such as the historical context of the action of the play, or stories that were in existence at the time the play was written. I can't really speak to what Aaron's process is, exactly, but I am very excited by the knowledge that he will make very different choices than I will, and people will get a very different show depending on which way the coin toss goes. I can't wait to see what he comes up with. This is really going to be fun.

It's also worth mentioning that this is going to make things very interesting for our entire cast. To the extent they interact with one of the kings, they're going to have the opportunity to play the same character two different ways. I'm sure I'll write about some of their discoveries once rehearsal starts. While I'm on the subject - what a fantastic cast we have.

I think our production is going to reveal a lot about the play. This is what I love.