I have been feeling intensely Shakespeare-deprived since I wasn’t able to attend the three festivals plus Theatricum Botanicum here in the southland that serve up Shakespeare’s plays every summer. So, it was a great relief to learn about A Noise Within’s latest production of Richard III, portraying one of the most iconic villains in the canon. Directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos who sets the play in 70s England, this Richard is deformed in a different way than his traditional misshapen body; now he is transgendered, played by the iconic Ann Noble. With a mop of red hair, this Richard’s antics bring to mind another redhead whose shenanigans are in the news every day now.
Scholars will tell you that Shakespeare’s project in mounting his history plays was to verify and solidify the reigning queen Elizabeth’s claim to the throne at a time when Mary Queen of Scots was trying to topple her. In doing so, he chronicled England’s royal successions from the War of the Roses until the triumph of the Tudor dynasty. Director Cienfuegos carries out a similar visual synopsis to bring audiences up to speed before he begins detailing the rather complicated deceitful practices that demonstrate Richard’s rise and fall. He populates ANW’s iconic thrust stage with a literal pile of furniture that, throughout, will facilitate the story.
At the time of the late Renaissance, Richard’s nefarious actions signaled a significant break in the transfer of royal lineage in what I consider to be the first deeply observed psychological examination of monomania, a single-minded obsession to gain power. Significantly, in Shakespeare’s telling, Richard’s persona shifts and solidifies with each revelation. Nobel brilliantly exemplifies such an obsessed human being, justifying every move from romance to murder. And, in perhaps the most famous scene of all, Richard woos the Lady Anne (Erika Soto) as she escorts her murdered husband to his burial.
Richard’s soliloquies mark significant moments in the trajectory towards his demise. Along the way, we are treated to scenes showing the travails of a succession of the hapless queens, including the doomed Anne, who suffer the consequences of Richard’s actions: the Queen mother, Margaret (Trisha Miller) and the widowed Queen Elizabeth (Leslie Fera).
Significantly, Lynn Robert Berg as Richard’s henchman, the Duke of Buckingham, equals Richard in nefarious machinations. Wes Guimarães, as well, does double duty as alternately a murderer and the sympathetic Tudor founder Richman, who defeats Richard in hand-to-hand combat. Director Cienfuegos has clarified the seeming never-ending succession of strategy meetings in Shakespeare’s telling through background projections by Nick Santiago with strategic area lighting from Ken Booth. Christine Cover Ferro’s 1970s costuming is most evident with Richard/Noble’s boxy, blueish-gray suit, and her styles carry the theme throughout. Other significant contributions come from dialect coach Andrea Odinov and, of course, fight director, Jonathan Rider.
Richard III continues at A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena 91107, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at7:30 p.m.; with matinees on Saturdays andSundays at2 p.m. through March 8th, 2026. Tickets start at $41.75, with student discounted tickets at $20.00 available. For information or tickets call (626) 356-3100 or go online to: www.anoisewithin.org.
