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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Great
Lakes succeeds with shortened, highly stylized ’Richard III’</SPAN></B><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
review will appear in the News-Herald</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> on 10/4/13<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Shakespeare wrote ten
plays about the English kings who reigned during the Hundred Years War with
France.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Each one seems to require
either an encyclopedic knowledge of Medieval English history or an extensive
cheat sheet to work your way through the many names, nicknames and ever-changing
titles of its large ensemble of players. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>“Richard III,” currently
on stage at Great Lakes Theater, has an added wrinkle in that it is the final
play in a series that covers the battle for the throne between the families York
and Lancaster. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Much of this play’s
back story and many of the characters referenced in its text reside in <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Henry VI (Part 1), Henry VI (Part 2), and
Henry VI (Part 3), </I>so a familiarity with those plays is an additional
prerequisite.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>This is also the longest
of Shakespeare’s history plays, clocking in at over 4 hours if staged in its
entirety.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So it is intimidating to
boot.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Fear not.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Richard III” and all of Shakespeare’s
history plays are historically inaccurate affairs, written to appeal to the
period’s finicky audience and appease the existing monarch. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These are highly romanticized dramas
built, primarily, to entertain.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>They also tend to get edited down and contemporized with each telling, to
better appeal to modern-day sensibilities.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Great Lakes Theatre is
the master of modification and modernization. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For this production of “Richard III,” the
script has been significantly cut for greater expedience, restructured for
enhanced comprehension, restaged in a contemporary setting to facilitate
relevance, and performed with remarkable skill and
artistry.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Purists will see all
these alterations as blasphemous; the rest of us will simply thank director
Joseph Hanreddy as we leave the theater at a reasonable time and after being
thoroughly entertained. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>“Richard III” follows the
exploits of Richard Plantagent, who would become Richard, Duke of Gloucester
and, through murder and marriage most foul, end up as King Richard III.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As do all of Shakespeare’s histories,
this one begins with a struggle for the crown, is followed by murder, disloyalty
and betrayal, and ends with the fellow whose name is in the title being
assassinated or imploding under the pressure of the job or his own demons.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Richard hits the trifecta in his
dramatic demise.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Lynn Robert Berg plays the title
character and is superb.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He is
deliciously villainous, bringing to life all that is simultaneously appealing
and appalling about Richard.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>From
the opening moment of the play – when Berg boldly steps forward to </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>reveal
his character’s ambition</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"
lang=EN> </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">and put on
display the twisted body that serves to represent his twisted soul – he owns the
audience.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 13.45pt 0in; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Berg is surrounded by a stellar cast, with particularly stand-out
performances turned in by Darren Matthias as Richard III’s brother King Edward
IV, Sara M. Bruner as Edward’s wife Queen Elizabeth, David Anthony Smith as the
Duke of Buckingham, and Laurie Birmingham as Queen Margaret, the prophetic widow
of King Henry IV.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>One of the play’s
most mesmerizing scenes includes Birmingham’s Queen Margaret, Bruner’s Queen
Elizabeth, and Lenne Snively’s Duchess of York – the three women most tortured
by Richard’s evil existence – as they gather to curse his
name.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Many of the supporting performers take on two roles in this production,
but one character operates with a conscience while the other one does not, so
they are easily distinguishable even though they share the same face.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>An excellent Tom Ford, for instance,
plays Lord Hastings, who remains loyal to Edward IV against Richard’s wishes, as
well as Sir James Tyrrel, t</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">he murderer Richard
hires to kill his two young cousins.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 13.45pt 0in; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>The play is set in modern times and staged within a cold glass and
chrome corporate headquarters, designed by Linda Buchanan.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The corporate logo, which bears the
brand of the current king, changes with each assassination.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Each of the many assassinations and
executions in this play is stylishly represented rather than dramatically
enacted. They are nicely accentuated with </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>macabre lighting and sound designed by Michael Chybowski and the team of
Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen, respectively.<SPAN style="COLOR: #222222">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In a
gruesome coincidence, it was recently reported that the actual bones of Richard
III were accidently unearthed beneath a car park in Leicester, England.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To see his dramatically re-envisioned
flesh and blood, go to PlayhouseSquare’s Hanna Theatre through November
3.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For tickets to
“Richard III,” which range from $15 to $70, visit <A href=""><FONT
color=#ff0000>www.playhousesquare.com</FONT></A> or call
216-241-6000.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>