To commemorate the bones of Richard III being found in an English parking lot, The Drilling Company will present Shakespeare's tragedy of the crook-back king August 1 to 17 in the Municipal Parking Lot at the corner of Ludlow and Broome Streets as the concluding production of the 2013 season of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. Hamilton Clancy, Artistic Director, will direct and Alessandro Colla will be featured as the king.
The production is dedicated to the memory of the late Richard A. Harden (d. 2011), a director of The Drilling Company who loved theater that posed political questions. He had been intent on directing "Richard III" in the Parking Lot. When the skeleton of the actuAl Richard III was unearthed in Leicester in February, "It made it obvious that all the signs were pointing to doing it this year," says Hamilton Clancy. The challenge, then, was "how 'Richard III' would be politically meaningful to us now."The company was inspired to interpret the play as a reflection of the political tides of conflict that are sweeping through our government centers now. "The current climate is as acrimonious as the War of the Roses," maintains Clancy. The impulse was to interpret the play as a sort of modern political fable. That view, and the resultant yearning for political reunification, was also front-and-center when the company chose to do "Cymbeline" this season (July 11 to 27), a play that portrays a divided world that is magically healed. For more info, visit: http://shakespeareintheparkinglot.com/Videos