June 17, 2006

Hungry...for revenge

The best moment at Intiman's new production of Richard III this week comes before the first word is spoken: Bart Sher himself emerging from the wings, coyly holding a box that he opens to reveal a statuette: the Tony for best regional theater. Well-merited applause.

Sadly, the rest of the evening's a mess; it's one long, long winter of discontent.

default_richardmainpic.jpg

In the title role, Stephen Pelinski does a creditable Ian McKellan impression, though with a disconcerting midwestern twang. The rest of the cast is unable to keep up. The House of Lancaster women fare worst, Lenne Klingaman as Lady Anne sounds like a high school student reciting lines she doesn't understand; Suzanne Bouchard as Margaret ("hungry for revenge") wielding a hysterical sword as she descends from the set's upper levels to wreak her hateful havoc.

Problem lies with Sher's concept: he overlays Shakespeare's rhythms with percussion, positioning two drum kits high atop the auditorium's scaffolding. Relentless thuds and clangs exude menace all night long. Works in operas, worked in Jaws, right? Yeah, but not for three hours straight, drowning the actors, trivializing the action and frustrating the audience. By the time Richard offers his kingdom for a horse, we're ready to surrender.

Listen to this post (1:38): podcast-mini4.gif
Intiman presents Richard III through July 15th. 206-269-1900

Posted by Ronald Holden at June 17, 2006 10:17 AM

Recent Entries

TIK logo.gif
The International Kitchen
Cooking school vacations in Italy, France & Spain.

Archives
Links

The International Vineyard, a new way to learn about wine in France, Italy and Spain: three-night programs for wine lovers in less-traveled regions.

The International Kitchen, the leading source for culinary vacations in France and Italy.

French Word-A-Day, fascinating lessons about language and daily life in Provence

Belltown Messenger, chronicle of a Seattle neighborhood's denizens, derelicts, clubs, bars & eateries. Restaurant reviews by Cornichon.

Small Screen Network, where food & drink celebrities like Robert Hess have recorded terrific videos.

French Chef Sally is my friend Sally McArthur, who hosts luxurious, week-long cooking classes at the Chateau du Riveau in the Loire Valley.

Local Wine Events.com, the worlds leading Food and Wine tasting calendar. Spirits and Beer events as well. Post your own event or sign up to be notified when new events are po sted to your own area.

VinoLover, Seattle wine promoter David LeClaire's bulletin board of tastings, dinners and special events.

Wine Educator Dieter Schafer maintains a full schedule of Seattle-area tastings and seminars for amateur wine drinkers and professional alike.

Nat Decants, a free wine e-newsletter from Natalie MacLean, recently named the World's Best Drink Writer at the World Food Media Awards in Australia. Wine picks, articles and humor; no ads.



Powered by
Movable Type 3.35
More blogs about food wine travel.
Who links to me?
var HOST = 'www.cornichon.org'; // Copyright (c) 1996-1997 Athenia Associates. // http://www.webreference.com/js/ // License is granted if and only if this entire // copyright notice is included. By Tomer Shiran. function setCookie (name, value, expires, path, domain, secure) { var curCookie = name + "=" + escape(value) + ((expires) ? "; expires=" + expires.toGMTString() : "") + ((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") + ((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") + ((secure) ? "; secure" : ""); document.cookie = curCookie; } function getCookie (name) { var prefix = name + '='; var c = document.cookie; var nullstring = ''; var cookieStartIndex = c.indexOf(prefix); if (cookieStartIndex == -1) return nullstring; var cookieEndIndex = c.indexOf(";", cookieStartIndex + prefix.length); if (cookieEndIndex == -1) cookieEndIndex = c.length; return unescape(c.substring(cookieStartIndex + prefix.length, cookieEndIndex)); } function deleteCookie (name, path, domain) { if (getCookie(name)) document.cookie = name + "=" + ((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") + ((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") + "; expires=Thu, 01-Jan-70 00:00:01 GMT"; } function fixDate (date) { var base = new Date(0); var skew = base.getTime(); if (skew > 0) date.setTime(date.getTime() - skew); } function rememberMe (f) { var now = new Date(); fixDate(now); now.setTime(now.getTime() + 365 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000); setCookie('mtcmtauth', f.author.value, now, '', HOST, ''); setCookie('mtcmtmail', f.email.value, now, '', HOST, ''); setCookie('mtcmthome', f.url.value, now, '', HOST, ''); } function forgetMe (f) { deleteCookie('mtcmtmail', '', HOST); deleteCookie('mtcmthome', '', HOST); deleteCookie('mtcmtauth', '', HOST); f.email.value = ''; f.author.value = ''; f.url.value = ''; } //-->