KING RICHARD II -- Lit Moon Theatre Company and Westmont College, Santa Barbara

script: William Shakespeare
director: John Blondell
cast: Heather Bancroft, Michael Conrad, Sumner LeVeque, Nolan Hamlin, Carlo Moss, Mitchell Thomas, Victoria Finlayson, Zak Landrum, Kate Louise Paulsen, Casey Caldwell, Stanley Hoffman, Amber Angelo, Erin Brehm, Peter John Duda
original music: James Connolly
costumes, masks, and scenography (Acts 1 & 3): Lesley Finlayson
costumes and scenography (Acts 2 &4): Yevgenia Nayberg
lighting design: Jonathan Hicks
assistant director: Rose Elfman
stage manager: Suzanne Galletly
stage technician: Christianna Stuart

Shakespeare's political tragedy about the death of kings.

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Staged in a grand, classical Episcopalian church, the opening tableau for this piece, complete with incredibly beautiful masks, was incredibly beautiful. (See first photo in this blog.)

And then the show began.

Oh this piece was dreadful. I hate to say it, as the director is a very good friend, but it was agony to sit through this.

Although spoken in English, I never understood a moment (except for the challenge between John of Gaunt and Bollingbrook -- and that went on way too long) of this piece (unlike Othello, which was performed in a language I didn't know, but a piece in which I understood every moment).

Having the audience move to different locations for the different acts was a nice touch and helped to give this work a unique flavor, but rather than including us in the piece, as I believe it was intended to do, I believe it actually distanced me. Because there was action going on all around me, I couldn't take it all in, and therefore I was left to choose where my attention would go, which made me an observer, rather than a participant. Being an observer at a play is fine (it's expected!), but when the action places the observer in the middle, the expectation is that the audience becomes a part of the action. And that never really occurred.

I don't really remember where, or when I heard the comment (it may not have even been directed toward this production) but someone said, "It was obvious that the actors were having some 'moments' that were very special and important to them, but they never let us in on them." And that is exactly what I felt about this show. There was lots of something special going on, but it was intensely personal to the performers.

There was too too much shouting. Mitchell Thomas as King Richard seemed to shout constantly. It never seemed to make him powerful, angry, strong, or anything other than an actor who can't find any other way to convey an emotion. I actually sat watching, tuning out the words because of the shouting, and thought, "The Europeans would never resort to this. Their character's strength and madness come from the inside, not worn on their sleeve this way."

And strangely enough, one of the things that irked me th most was the only touch of humor that found its way in to the show. The Dutchess of York actually shrieked the line: "What ho, my liege! For God's sake, let me in" in a most annoying, and totally out of character fashion (it was the only time they did something of the sort) and the following line from King Henry was, "What shrill-voic'd suppliant makes this eager cry?" It felt as though it were done just for the laugh (which it got) and was incredibly out of place.

Stanley Hoffman as the Duke of York was the only performer who managed to find a character and convey it to the audience without any momentous internalizing or vehement shouting. He simply was, living in his own moments, which is what helped me find him.

Sadly, a show that obviously meant something to those involved, but the audience was never let in on it.