Robert O'Hara on Directing Richard III

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.7 • 837 Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Robert O’Hara joins us to talk about directing last year’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III, starring Danai Gurira of Marvel's "Black Panther." He tells us about gathering a diverse cast of actors with disabilities, wanting to “trigger” his audiences, and what it’s like to get a call about directing Shakespeare in the Park (spoiler: it’s a whirlwind). Robert O’Hara is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. A film of Richard III premiered on PBS’s Great Performances on Friday, May 19, and is streaming now on the PBS App and at pbs.org/gperf. Robert O’Hara is a two-time Obie Award and two-time NAACP Award Winner whose work has been seen around the country. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his direction of Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play. From our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published May 23, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from CDM Studios in New York and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In a juicy production of Richard III, now playing on PBS's great performances,
0:05.0	Shakespeare's bunch-backed toad hides all of his deformities on the inside.
0:14.0	From the Fulcher Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.
0:20.0	I'm Michael Whitmore, the Folcher director.
0:22.9	In the summer of 2022, the public theaters free Shakespeare in the Park in New York
0:27.5	mounted a production of Richard III directed by Robert O'Hara.
0:32.1	Even before it opened, the show sparked conversations based on its casting.
0:37.0	The actor, Denaigarer, known for her roles in the Black Panther films and The Walking
0:41.9	Dead, played the title role.
0:44.7	Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this son of York.
0:58.0	And all the clouds that loured upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
1:01.0	Now our brows bound in victorious wreaths,
1:05.0	our bruised arms are hung up for monuments.
1:09.0	Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, our dreadful marches,
1:13.6	to delightful measures. Grim visage war had smoothed his wrinkled front, and now, instead
1:22.6	of mounting barbed steeds to fright the souls of fearful adversaries, he capers, nimbly, in a ladies' chamber,
1:30.3	to the lascivious pleasings of a newt.
1:34.3	Guerrera played Richard III without a limp or other visible disability.
1:38.3	At the same time, the cast included many differently-abled actors playing opposite Guerrera. Many critics interpreted O'Hara's casting as a clever commentary on disability, race, and gender.
1:51.0	The other actors you'll hear in clips from the production are Sharon Washington as Queen Margaret,
1:56.0	Ariel Sheffier as Lord Hastings, and Heather Alicia Simms, says Queen Elizabeth.
2:01.8	If you missed Richard the 3rd's run in Central Park, you're in luck.
	...

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