Shakespeare’s Richard III is one of the better-known tragedies. Most people have an idea of what is happening, generally. There is an evil guy who kills everyone so he can be king. It’s a tragedy, so we have to make sure that he dies in the end.
After Shakespeare – Richard III is one person's reaction to research from sources other than Shakespeare in order for Richard to be exonerated from this evil reputation. If this is the Richard that you want, you will have to look elsewhere.
Creator Lexie Wolfe writes, “a groundbreaking invitation to reconsider your perception of history’s most maligned monarch.” This sounds very much like the gauntlet being thrown down.
Wolfe has written a stylised play that presents Richard III as a better product of his environment by using material other than the character created by William Shakespeare. We must trust that she has found material to support this hypothesis that is legitimately accepted in the scholarly community.
Wolfe has created and written a collection of scenes that focus on her honourable and honest Richard III. Richard is a good son and brother, husband and father; and an honest ruler who is concerned for the welfare of his subjects. Richard is truly in love and wants to marry. He has lobbied for food for the poor.
Wolfe gives us a tall, good looking, physically unmarked Richard with a liquid voice, a Richard very unlike Shakespeare’s twisted villain.
These vignettes must use Shakespeare’s Richard as a jumping off point. She provides us with a “good" Richard, honest and honourable that makes for a very different royal trajectory.
If you didn’t know anything about Shakespeare’s Richard (and the bones recently unearth in a parking lot and the television productions Searching for Richard and Finding Richard), After Shakespeare would offer an acceptable Richard III, a little dull and therefore necessarily a lesser character. This reconditioned Richard would hold so little interest for historians that we might not know about him at all. And evil Richard is a lot more fun to watch.
One must admire Wolfe’s interest and passion for the subject. The production she has constructed is entertaining, informative, well written even if it is subjected to tunnel-vision.
Wolfe not only wrote and directed the piece but is very interesting to watch as she moves through the characters of Anne Neville, George Duke of Clarence, Edward IV, Henry Duke of Buckingham, James Harrington and Cecily of York.
Adam Phelan is the Richard that Wolfe is supporting. He handles the material and character capably. The music originally created for this production supports the production flawlessly.
One would hope, at the very least, that this production would spark interest and discussion.