Richard II” represents director Barbara Gaines and Chicago Shakespeare Theater at their best. This is not to say that it is the best, period, or that there is not room for improvement.
The grand music of the verse in this most poetic of the English history plays is sometimes muted, its principal female roles generally are given short shrift, and some of Gaines’ visual embellishments are a bit much. But in the muscularity of its staging, in the clarity and crispness of its language and in the vigor of its storytelling, this is an impressive piece of work, a Chicago production at its peak.
It has, at its center, a continually engrossing, complex portrayal of the Poet King by the young actor Scott Parkinson. Every bit of trickery, craft and artistry that Parkinson has accumulated in his career here has been brought to bear on his characterization of a temperamental, petulant, capricious, vainglorious and smug monarch whose downfall brings out the wit, courage and compassion, not to mention the true nobility, that he had not displayed as king.
Thin, delicate and mercurial by comparison with the solid, beefy, commanding presence of the usurper Bolingbroke (Scott Jaeck, in an exceedingly intelligent portrayal of a charismatic man of limited intelligence), Parkinson gives Richard’s lines readings that are surprising but valid, reaching his zenith of eloquence in the famous mirror scene as he bids a final farewell to his crown.
A play about the folly of national and personal pride, and about the hollowness of political rhetoric, among other things, “Richard II” has been given further relevance by its sleek modern setting. On the polished wooden floor crafted by scenic designer James Noone, the large cast parades in Michael Krass’ ultra-chic suits and gowns. (Richard, of course, has impeccably tailored clothes for every occasion, while his courtly lounge lizard flatterers lean toward the trendy and flashy.)
The play’s backdrop, which sometimes opens to reveal a huge patch of sky, is a virtual wall of stage lighting, fashioned by Kevin Adams to suggest everything from brightest sunlight to gaudiest disco shades.
The production includes some splendid supporting portrayals: Donald Brearley, whose ringing denunciation of Bolingbroke’s seizure of the crown is superb Shakespearean verse reading; Steve Pickering as the august, anguished Duke of York; Fredric Stone as the cold, implacable conspirator Northumberland.
Felicia P. Fields appears in two roles: a disco diva crooning a special song composed by Alaric Jans, and as the Duchess of York, whose pleadings for her deceitful son are played here (as they often are) for laughs. Mike Nussbaum, as the dying John of Gaunt, energizes his performance with an anger that explodes in rage–and leads to some of Gaines’ most surprising and shocking directorial touches.
” Richard II” stands at the beginning of Shakespeare’s English chronicles. It is important, not only for its singular values but for its foreshadowing of the trials and agonies of England that were to come in the reigns of future kings.
Gaines has grasped the genius of this design securely, and though she has made the point a little too flamboyantly with a last-minute special effect, her production shows that genius in a strong and vibrant realization of Shakespeare’s drama.
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” Richard II” plays at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre on Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave. through Nov. 18. $32 to $52; 312-595-5600.
