Thursday, March 28, 2024

AdvertiseDonateSubmit
NewsSportsArtsOpinionThe QuadPhotoVideoIllustrationsCartoonsGraphicsThe StackPRIMEEnterpriseInteractivesPodcastsBruinwalkClassifieds

Shakespeare at UCLA’s “˜Richard III’ play set in Stalin’s Russia

Lyddan and Singer will star in Shakespeare at UCLA’s production of “Richard III,” directed by fourth-year atmospheric and oceanic sciences and American literature and culture student Marisa Tate.

RICHARD III
Today and Thursday, 7 p.m.
Kerckhoff Grand Salon, FREE

By Daniel Boden

March 2, 2011 12:09 a.m.

Stephanie Son

Second-year theater student Phoebe Singer and first-year theater student Sarah Lyddan rehearse for “Richard III.”

Stephanie Son

Second-year theater student Phoebe Singer performs as Richard III.

Marisa Tate had been brewing her image of King Richard III for quite some time. To the massive Shakespearian text, she added a dash of Stalinist Russia, drawing out the violence and deceit of Richard’s world. A pinch of tempered madness, a handful of inspiration from an English senior seminar and a generous helping of a free theater philosophy rounded out the recipe for Tate’s production.

Shakespeare at UCLA produced “Richard III,” which runs today and Thursday at the Kerckhoff Grand Salon. The on-campus club chose Tate, a fourth-year atmospheric and oceanic sciences and American literature and culture student, to direct a play of her choice.

“When we’re talking to people who possibly would like to direct, we sit them down, we ask them what show they want to do, and what their vision for the show is. We want to see that this isn’t someone who is just trying to direct for the moment, but that they have a detailed plan of what they want to do,” said Lola Green, a third-year psychology student and stage manager for “Richard III.”

“Marisa (Tate) definitely did that. … She had everything pretty much laid out for us, and we really liked her vision and decided to accept her as our director this year.”

Tate first read the second-to-last play in Shakespeare’s chronology of English history during her senior year of high school. It was not until spring 2010 when she took a seminar on American Southern literature and storytelling with professor Kenneth Lincoln that she began to see herself directing the play recounting the wily rise and short-lived reign of Richard III.

Tate said she saw how literary narrative techniques studied in her seminar could be translated into other media, including the stage. With a greater understanding of how to tell a story, she envisioned a new side of Richard when her Czech class discussed Communist history and Joseph Stalin’s megalomaniacal reign.

“I saw a Richard in Stalin and I saw a Stalin in Richard. I just thought they were weird little soulmates. I wanted to explore how the cult of personality has woven its way through history. Why people are seemingly drawn to psychopathic people in positions of power. Why everyone in the play can’t help but doing what Richard orchestrates even as he’s so honest about being evil,” Tate said.

Tate said she found her ideal Richard in Phoebe Singer, a second-year theater student.

“It’s really one of those parts that I’ve fallen in love with. I wish I could play him longer. I think it really speaks to the integrity of the group that they’d be daring enough to cast a female in a male role,” Singer said.

Expecting that more females than males would audition, Tate said she was open to cross-casting as long as she got the best actor for each role. After callbacks, she said, Singer was the obvious choice for her troubled monarch.

Conflict arose when a cast member quit one week before opening night, and Tate had to find a fast solution. She asked Jill Renner, a third-year theater student, to take on the roles of Margaret, Edward and Prince Edward, his son.

Renner agreed to act, saying that she had never entered a full production with such little time before performances, but that the experience is exciting and hearkens back to Shakespeare’s origins.

“A professional company back then probably didn’t have much time to rehearse. They would have a ton of plays in their head at once that they’re doing in rep everyday. So it’s kind of exciting … to create three characters in a week,” Renner said.

First-year neuroscience student Jeremy Gleick, who plays Catesby, Richard’s sniveling cohort, said Renner has done well in her last-minute role. The opportunity to act in a play with a mixed-major cast ““ one of Shakespeare at UCLA’s foundational philosophies ““ has been a fun learning experience, Gleick said.

“It was very good for me to find a way to do some acting while being a neuroscience major, not taking any theater classes,” Gleick said.

Tate said that the mix has led to an inspiring production, and that she hopes all who see the play understand and appreciate her take on “Richard III.”

“Richard just isn’t some psychopathic dude from medieval England,” Tate said. “Richard is everywhere.”

Share this story:FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Daniel Boden
COMMENTS
Featured Classifieds
More classifieds »
Related Posts