RICHARD III

Ann Noble delivers a tour-de-force performance in the title role, but I found Guillermo Cienfuegos’s edgy, contemporary, stunningly staged take on William Shakespeare’s Richard III hard to follow (and most of its characters hard to distinguish one from another). Then again, that just might be me and my conflicted feelings about the Bard, particularly when he is in history play mode.

Director Cienfuegos signals from the get-go that this won’t be your grandparents’ Richard III as the entire cast emerges from behind a translucent screen where they have stood silhouetted, upon which they dismantle a huge pile of chairs and begin to set the scene for the action that’s immediately to follow.

And when I say immediately, I mean immediately, because no sooner has the cast moved into their places than we are launched into a rapid-fire recap (or is it a preview of things to come??)  filled with treachery and murders galore, names and phrases projected onto the set as soon as they are spoken by the actors.

Richard then emerges from where he’s been seated above the action and as soon as Noble takes center stage, it’s clear that this is no Richard III you’ve ever seen before, the actor’s shock of red hair, slight, androgynous frame, and growling rasp of a voice suggesting a cross between Glenda Jackson and Ben Whishaw (and I mean that in the most complimentary way).

Whereas previous Richards may have suffered from a sense of being “the other” due to the future king’s fabled hump, Noble’s Richard’s otherness appears to depend not on a noticeable deformity but on an inability to fit into a world in which men are men and women are women and Richard doesn’t fall easily into either category.

As with any Shakespeare play, it helps to come forearmed by familiarizing oneself with what’s about to happen, so here’s a brief summary of what to expect.

It’s the early 1480s (though at A Noise Within the garb is entirely contemporary and in shades of gray and black) and England is enjoying a much-needed respite from war under King Edward IV (Neill Fleming), married to Elizabeth (Lesley Fera).

Only one member of the nobility seems entirely dissatisfied with the status quo, and that royal is the King’s jealous, power-hungry brother Richard (Noble), cursed (according to Shakespeare, though not so much at ANW) with three strikes against him: a hunchback, a withered arm, and a limp.

In Richard’s case, however, three strikes definitely do not mean out, and though seventh in line to the throne, he sets in motion a plot to get rid of numbers one through six, beginning with his older brother Clarence (Randolph Thompson).

Others who end up on Richard’s hit list are any nobles who happen to be loyal to Edward and Elizabeth’s pre-teen sons (Brendan Burgos and Micah Lanfer), and that includes Lord Hastings (Samuel Garnett) and ultimately the two boys themselves.

Also figuring in the action are Richard’s future bride Lady Anne (Erika Soto), no matter that her first husband and father had already met their maker thanks to Richard; Richard’s right-hand man Lord Buckingham (Lynn Robert Berg); the Duchess of York (Veralyn Jones), mother to Richard, Clarence, and Edward; Queen Margaret (Trisha Miller), widow of the dead King Henry VI; Richmond (Wes Guimarães), every bit as good as Richard is evil (and bound and determined to put an end to his reign of terror), and assorted characters played by Alex Neher (Rivers), Tony Pasqualini (Stanley), and ensemble members Vic Crusaos, Sean Umeda, and Dominick Jaramillo.

All of this adds up to about as convoluted a plot as English history ever gave Shakespeare to write about, and though I thought I had come prepared, having just read (and pretty much understood) a four-page synopsis before the show, I soon found myself lost, as I so frequently am, in Shakespeare’s verbiage, and though I salute the director and cast’s desire to keep things moving at a breakneck pace (and get the whole thing wrapped up in just under two hours and forty minutes), at least in my own case, I needed more time to process what was being said, and truth be told, other than the women, children, and Richard, I found most of the other characters hard to distinguish one from the other.

A lot of this is consistent with my on-the-fence attitude where Shakespeare is concerned, but whatever the case, I ended up more in awe of the performances and design* than I was engrossed in what was taking place on stage.

All of this is to say that if you love Shakespeare unreservedly as so many do, do not miss this production. It’s stunning to look at and spectacularly acted, in particular by Noble, who gives the performance of a lifetime in a lifetime packed with great performances.

*Designers: Ken Booth (lighting) Angela Balogh Calin (scenic), Christine Cover Ferro (costumes), Chris Moscatiello (sound), Nick Santiago (projections), Stephen Taylor (properties), Tony Valdés (wigs and makeup)

Natalie Martin is assistant director. Jonathan Rider is fight choreographer. Miranda Johnson-Haddad is dramaturg and Shakespeare Consultant. Andrea Odinov is dialect coach. Alison Rodriguez is casting director. Sami Hansen is stage manager and Hope Matthews is assistant stage manager. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

A Noise Within, 3352 East Foothill Blvd, Pasadena. Through March 8. Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30. Saturdays at 2:00 and 7:30, and Sundays at 2:00
www.ANoiseWithin.org

–Steven Stanley
February 26, 2026
Photos: Craig Schwartz

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

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