8 July 2010: Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King Richard III

Founders’ Theater, Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA. John Douglas Thompson in the title role

We took my eighteen-year-old grandson to the Berkshires to see this fine production, which he enjoyed immensely and said he could follow easily. We had seen John Douglas Thompson the previous year here as Othello. He is a statuesque, extremely intense and well focused African American actor, equally good in the one role as in the other. Tina Packer’s long-lived company prides itself on making Shakespeare accessible, and they do succeed at this, while somehow avoiding over-simplification. We were vastly pleased with this production and its concentration on presenting a clear, fast-paced, verbally articulate action that at the same time did not slight important nuances of character.