RICHARD II
Play by William Shakespeare. Directed by Allyn Burrows. Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project, at the Cambridge YMCA, Feb. 17-March 13. Tickets $26-$50; 866-811-4111; www.actors
shakespeareproject.org
Although best known for its glorious poetry and pageantry, Shakespeare’s “Richard II’’ is really about “a bunch of cousins trying to tear each other apart,’’ says director Allyn Burrows.
“Those family ties, that closeness, amplifies Bolingbroke’s betrayal of his cousin Richard,’’ says Burrows, who is directing the Actors’ Shakespeare Project production at the Cambridge YMCA Feb. 17-March 13. “There is a fundamental sense of ‘How could you do this to me?’ combined with ‘How could I let this happen?’ ’’
The play follows the last two years of Richard II’s reign in medieval England, around the turn of the 15th century. Although destined since birth to rule England, Richard II is an indecisive king, more interested in lavish ceremonies than the business of ruling his kingdom. When Henry Bolingbroke accuses Richard’s agent, Thomas Mowbray, of embezzlement, the king banishes both of them to avoid a duel. But that initial act of charity marks the beginning of Richard’s undoing. John of Gaunt, Bolingbroke’s dying father and one of Richard’s uncles responsible for his early training, accuses the king of misspending money. Richard responds by seizing Gaunt’s land and property, thus denying Bolingbroke his inheritance. When Bolingbroke returns from banishment to win back his lands, his effort turns into a complete overthrow of Richard’s government, culminating in Bolingbroke’s uneasy coronation as Henry IV.
“Richard and Bolingbroke grew up together,’’ says Doug Lockwood, who plays Richard. “They have this deep connection. They are like soulmates, which makes the betrayal all the more crushing.’’
The play, says Burrows, is full of contradictions like the cousins’ love-hate relationship.
“Richard has an extraordinarily theatrical sensibility, while Bolingbroke is a man of the earth, a man of the people,’’ Burrows says. “It sets us up for a confrontation.’’
Richard, says Lockwood, “was living in a bubble. He grew up so pampered, and it gnaws at him that he’s not as well-liked as his cousin. But because he believes he was anointed by God to be king, the idea that his cousin could take his crown is difficult for him to comprehend.’’
Although Lockwood says it’s important to show the ceremonial nature of the times, he says he’s more concerned that audiences understand why he makes so many missteps.
“I think he really wants what’s right for his kingdom,’’ Lockwood says. “His father was a great warrior but he drained the treasury. Richard delivers this anti-war speech based on moral grounds, but he’s living at a time when war was the way you asserted your power.’’
In rehearsal, the tenderness between the two cousins is apparent. In a pivotal confrontation, Lockwood’s Richard is earnest and idealistic, while Bolingbroke (played by Michael Forden Walker) seems almost befuddled by the position he’s found himself in.
Doubt starts to overwhelm the king, says Lockwood. “So many people are out to get him, his resolve shatters.’’
To keep a sharp focus on the play’s emotional contradictions, Burrows has pared the script, and just seven actors take on nearly two dozen characters. In addition to Lockwood and Walker, the cast includes Malcolm Ingram, Marya Lowry, Paula Plum, Robert Walsh, and Lewis D. Wheeler.
“We’ve designated part of the stage as the ‘cone of transformation,’ ’’ says Burrows, “because what’s important is not whether someone has a limp or is wearing the right hat, but that the urgency of the action continues.’’
The audience, he says, will serve as a stand-in for other participants in the drama, as well as the conscience to which Richard and others reveal their moral dilemmas.
“We have an intimate space to work in,’’ says Burrows. “With the audience just a few feet away, we can make clear just how much structural power was based on emotional currency.’’
The goal, he says, “is to steer clear of pomp, and stay close to the emotional heart of the play. As long as we can create the sense that everything is happening in the room, with the audience feeling that everything hangs in the balance, that’s our hedge against Netflix.’’
RICHARD II
Play by William Shakespeare. Directed by Allyn Burrows. Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project, at the Cambridge YMCA, Feb. 17-March 13. Tickets $26-$50; 866-811-4111; www.actorsshakespeareproject.org
Terry Byrne can be reached at trbyrne@aol.com.
