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Ron Cephas Jones and Suzanne Bertish lead the Public Theater's traveling show

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

During the last three weeks, the Public Theater's Mobile Shakespeare Unit has taken its summer tour of free performances of “Richard III” to 18 different prisons, homeless shelters and similar metro area venues – including the Community Development Center in Paterson – where people see very little in the way of live theater.

The troupe now returns home to the Public for a brief stint to give regular theatergoers – at a bargain $15 ticket price – a look at their traveling “Richard III.”

Among Shakespeare's longer plays, “Richard III” has been sharply edited down to a swift 100 minutes by Amanda Dehnert, who capably directs this vigorous production performed by nine actors, all of whom depict several roles.

Typically staged in gyms and cafeterias on tour, the show is presented here with minimal scenery and in dark, quasi-modern clothes neatly designed by Linda Roethke.

The single visual employed throughout the production is a family tree of the Lancaster and York clans that is crudely painted across a canvas. Every time Richard knocks off somebody, their name is blotted out in red paint. This bloody scorecard proves to be an effective device to punctuate the drama.

The play's compression may seem somewhat blunt to viewers accustomed to the standard text, but it lends this production a relentless speed that makes Richard's crimes appear all the more shocking.

A lean, gaunt figure with a deep voice and a devilish tuft sprouting from his chin, Ron Cephas Jones rightfully dominates the story as a ravenous Richard who seems to relish every rival he chews to bits. In the actor's intimate moments, the snaky subtlety of his wooing of Lady Anne over the corpse of a loved one is mesmerizing.