CHEMA
CARDEÑA R III
Based on William Shakespeare’s “Richard III”
Arden
Producciones and Teatres de la Generalitat Valenciana
Directed by
Chema Cardeña
Length: 1h 50’
The play was represented from the
14th of October to the 6th of November 2005 in L’Altre
Espai theatre of Valencia
DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Richard: (Juan Carlos Garés) He is the main character of the play, the
Duke of Gloucester. He has a really twisted mind which caused bad acts. He is
phisically deformed, he is lame and does not have his left hand and also has a
hump on his back.
He acts as an
arrogant person, bad, sadistic,
withouth feelings towards cruel actions... He is just interested in
reach the throne, in obtaining the kingdom. He speaks in a way that surprises
when it is compared with his appearance. He wears boots, dark clothes, and a
big coat on them. He is going bald and he would be in his fourties. He falls in
love with Lady Anne, a young girl .
Queen Elisabeth: (Amparo Vayá) She is the wife of Edward
IV, king of England and Richard's
brother. When Edward dies she is very worried because she does not want Richard
to get the power because her sons are the heirs of the throne and because she
knows he is a bad man. She is a really protective mother because she knows the
risks they have. She appears wearing a
red dress which is really flashing.
Buckingham: (Carol Linuesa) He is
Richard's cousin, Duke of Buckingham. He is similar to Richard because he is
also as bad and insensitive as he is. Richard and Buckingham are as well as cousins
also mates on the way to reach the control of the Kingdom . In this play, the
paper is interpreted by a woman who is dressed with dark war clothes, goatee,
and high boots as well as an arm.
Ratcliff: (Vicente Pastor) Member of the
nobility, is considered by Richard as
his left hand, probably because he does the killings and all this kind of
things just if Richard asks him to do it. He kills all enemies of Richard.
Lady Anne: ( Esther López) She is the widow of
Prince Edward, who was killed by Richard. She is really sad because of the
lost, and she thinks she will not love any other man. She hates Richard because of his acts but at the end she agrees
to marry him because he has been insisting on it and because of political
interests. She is wearing a pink and grey long dress.
Clarence: (Ismael Carretero) He is Richard and
Edward’s brother, and the Duke of Clarence.
He is murdered by Richard because he wants to get him out of the way.
Clarence said that G was going to kill the descendants of the king. His real
name begins by G (George) so he was killed. He was the more handsome and nicer
of the three brothers.
Richmond: (Ismael
Carretero) He is a member of a branch of the Lancaster dynasty who also
wants the Kingdom that Richard wants. He is the greatest enemy of Richard
because of this challenge and also because Richard wants to marry Lady Anne and
Richmond wants it too.
Hasting: (Chema Cardeña) He is an important
lord of England whose mistake is to trust in Richard. He kills him. Hasting is
really faith and loyal to King Edward
and Elisabeth.
Queen Margaret: (Laura Useleti) She is the widow of the
king Henry the VI and mother of prince Edward who has also be killed. All her
family has been killed so she is really angry and hates Richard. She is
embittered and rancorous because of the murders Richard and his family and
friends have commited to get to the throne. She curses everybody who has
something to do with her losts. She is
an old woman dressed in red and black that needs a walking steek.
SPACE: The play
takes place in the England after the Norman Conquest, during the 11th
century aproximately. The space created
in the scene is not complicated. There are lots of lights that recreate a kind
of Chessboard and probably a match. The scene does not show lots of
decorations, so actor’s works needs to be most intensive. “It is an empty scenery that little by
little is occupied by nine characters that will tell us a story” [...] ;
"is an empty space, indefinite, inhabited by nine characters on which the
wheigh of the action falls, the emotion
and the aroma of a last but still close time"[...] (Leaflet of the play,
Chema Cardeña, 2005)
LIGHTING: The
lighting of the play is not simple. It has some strategy, like in a chess game.
Characters can be compared with chess pieces because everyone has its paper and
his role on the play, and as in chess only one king can survive, in this case,
Richard. The lighting was vertical and horizonatal. There were three positions
on the horizontal, one on each height. There is also a central spotlight that
is switched on when Richard starts to talk on his own. When the scene is on the
forest, lights try to recreate grass and leaves in the ground and also when the
scene is in the Castle tower.
CLOTHES: The characters are dressed with clothes of the time. Every character is
wears clothes in relation to its social class. There could also be a
relationship within the clothes colours and the personality of the characters.
“Bad” people are dressed in dark colours and more sensitive people are wearing
clothes with light and live colours, like Lady Anne and Queen Elisabeth with
their pink and red dresses.
ATREZZO: Atrezzo
is made of several objects depending on where the characters are. For
example, in the scene of the death of
Lady Anne's husband there is a tomb. There is also used a bath to kill Clarence and it is used a
tube of artificial blood to made the water red coloured simulating the blood of
the death. . There is also used a high chair when Richard is on the throne, and
he is wearing a crown. He uses a bed he lieas down while there is a men taking
care of him. The most flashing item of the atrezzo is the huge metal cross that
is used while Queen Elisabeth and Richard are having a conversation.
PERSONAL
OPINION:
From my point of view
this play is represented by really professional actors in the sense that they
work very well. The staging is really good although there is not really
complicated but actors can made you fell good sensations and involved on the
play. On the other hand, I have to say that I did not understand quite well the
play. I have read critics and summaries of the play but I can not understand it
completely. I think my problem are characters and their names, but I got angry
because I do not like the feeling of not catching someting completely. So I
have decided to see the play again taking the advantage that the company is
going to visit my town.
Probably I will
rewrite the performance module when I understand completely the play because I
am sure that then I would have enjoyed the play totally.
INTERESTING WEBSITES
ON THE TOPIC :
http://www.arden.es/teatro/RIII/riii.htm
http://www.teatrochapi.com/programacion/invierno2006/0204.htm