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Richard III
Presented by Propeller at The Huntington Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts. May 18-June 19, 2011. Directed by Edward Hall. Designed by Michael Pavelka. Original Music by Jon Trenchard. With Richard Clothier (Richard), John Dougall (Clarence, Stanley), Chris Myles (Buckingham), Jon Trenchard (Lady Anne), Tony Bell (Margaret), Dominic Tighe (Queen Elizabeth), Robert Hands (King Edward IV, Richmond), Kelsey Bookfield (Rivers, Duchess of York), and Thomas Padden (Hastings).
When President Obama announced the killing of Osama Bin Laden on the night of May 1, 2011, large crowds spontaneously gathered for celebrations in places like Times Square, Boston's Public Gardens, and the front of the White House. The raucous and nationalistic nature of the celebrations might not have been unexpected, and many commentators also quickly denounced the tone of the celebrations. But something quite unusual occurred, at least in the Boston area: university students took the lead in initiating the celebrations, joining the euphoric chorus of public commentators like Rush Limbaugh, who uncharacteristically intoned, "Thank God for President Obama." Central to that euphoria was the idea, partly articulated by President Obama himself, that just punishment had been meted out to a murderous enemy of America, God, and freedom. What complicated this picture of a simplistically zealous response, however, was the backdrop of the Arab Spring; as numerous commentators suggested, Arab revolts against autocratic regimes unleashed a revolutionary aspiration for freedom which also had the effect of (further) marginalizing the jihadist zeal of bin Laden and Al Qaeda. That is to say, some Americans who exulted at the death of bin Laden believed their passions to be continuous with the passions of Arab Spring and the rejection of bin Ladenism.
It was in this context that the British company Propeller brought its touring production of Richard III to the Huntington Theatre in Boston. Though the production was conceived and rehearsed well before even the first events of Arab Spring, it resonated powerfully in performance with current world events. This effect was in no small part due to the fact that the production eschewed topical references or any overtly discernible political message. If the production was driven by any concept, it was to unearth what the director Edward Hall clearly saw as the brutality at the heart of Richard III....