Richard III -The Greatest Play in the World

American Shakespeare Center - Staunton, VA
March 2, 2012

Brad - A
Chelsea - A

Ok, so let set this up. Brad and I, after a really busy work week for us both, hopped in the car on a Friday afternoon and hung out in traffic for 5 hours when it should have taken us 3. Oh, and we saw a play! We heading to Staunton, VA. Staunton is a small town that neither of us has ever been to, here is some highlights:

This is the view when you enter and yes, that is a giant tea kettle

The main street and the hardware store were really cute, the rain doesn't do it justice. Basically, it's just adorable.

 

Here is the local clock shop. How does a clock shop stay in business? It amazes me.

Here is what BLEW our minds:

 

This is a store of large bunny costumes. I'm not kidding that was the store. We are strolling along enjoying this adorable downtown, look to our right and BUNNIES. It was terrifying.

But, on to the play! We saw Richard III. This is one of Shakespeare's histories. A.K.A. I try really hard not to fall asleep. But, this one proved me wrong! Here is the synopsis:

So, Edward is on the throne. Richard, his brother who is a deformed little man with a hunchback, decides he wants the throne. The play opens with him coming out to the audience and saying I am a villain. I am going to be a villain and kill everyone and boy does he! He kills another king and his son and then convinces the widowed wife of one of them to marry him (because that always happens.) Oh, he then later kills her. He hired assassins to kill his older brother, George, so he can never get the throne. His brother the king dies and he kills his 2 nephews, the heirs to the throne, so they can't be king. He convinces the people of how much they need him to be king and then reluctantly (right) takes the throne. Then he kills his BFF because he's paranoid that someone will take his throne. There is one cousin left that could take the throne and after all of the killing he hears about he decides maybe this Richard is not the best king after all. He starts a war against the king and an epic battle ends this story.

So, basically you spend 2 hours watching this horrible man kill everyone. The actor who played Richard was AWESOME! He looked evil, he acted evil and paranoid, and was also kind of funny.

There was not an actor there that was horrible (usually there is one over the top actor that I can't take, this performance had no one.) They also intertwined modern songs and at the beginning and intermission all the actors played music and sang. I'm talking standing basses and accordions. These were talented people! For a history, this was really great! You could just picture the people of Shakespeare's day booing and cheering. He really pulled out the drama. We also heard the lines "Now is the winter of our discontent" and "a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse" so it's always fun to hear lines you know but can't place.

The place was also awesome:

Afterwards, we wandered through Staunton and stopped at a cute restaurant, The Mockingbird, for dinner:

Then heading back to our bed and breakfast. The next morning, Joel, of The Frederick House, our hotel treated us to a full breakfast.

 

 They CUT our grapes and made the melons look like penguins. I was in love!

We also overheard Joel saying that the American Shakespeare Center was "the best Shakespeare in the world." I mean if a man cutting melons into penguins thinks your the best, then you ARE the best!

After breakfast we headed out. With Radiolab on NPR to entertain us, we had a much nicer drive to Chapel Hill where 3 more plays greeted us. Here is a quick pic from intermission of the last play. We were pooped!

Chels