Borderland Theater's Two Days of Grace at Middleham at The Tucson Performing Arts Center
(out
of 
)Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 10/3/98
(out
of )Richard the Third; Hunchback, claw for a hand, a black lump for a heart. Shakespeare and other Elizabethans have created a monstrous image that survives to this day, while Toni Press-Coffman searches to find the man behind the myth. Borderlands Theater and Ms. Press-Coffman set out in the new play, Two Days of Grace at Middleham, to remind us that history is written by the victors, and Richard III, whose two-year reign ended with a defeat that lead to the rise of the house of Tudor, has been unfairly maligned, simply because his bloodline didn't win. That is not to say that he is without fault, but rather that history is a living, breathing entity that is sometimes just as untrustworthy as the rest of our senses.
Set in the Fifteenth and Twentieth Centuries, and using Richard, his brothers and wife, and a future relative to consider the ramifications of actions and the fickleness of history, the play offers a more human Richard. This Richard is rough, unseasoned and halting in polite society, but in his element as a warrior. He is the unlucky target of game-playing Royals, and blamed for much more court intrigue than he was privy to. One of his few true victims, the sons of his eldest brother, Edward IV, is calling through a Twentieth Century relative, linking past, present and future, and affecting all throughout. This is not an easy play, but one that asks the right questions, and offers some interesting answers in the process.
Director Samantha Wyer has her hands full with this piece, though she does the best that she can. The play starts out disjointedly, with many odd mixtures of past, present and future that help to put a humanizing face on Richard. The script has many interesting thoughts about history and choices that are initially muddied by awkward-though-necessary exposition and sometimes-clumsy-though-necessary timelessness. Asking audience members to keep up is a tall order, but suddenly, somewhere near the end of the first act, if they have been able to follow and unwind this puzzle knot, the payoff is well worth the effort. Though most plays use ten minutes of exposition to get the ball rolling, this uses at least forty-five. But, once the ball is rolling, the power of its drama is impressive.
Jonathan Ingbretson is a wonderfully human and understandable Richard. He displays the characters awkwardness and charm, smashing the stereotypes of Richard's myth and becoming a fine hero in the process. Andrea Miller does a great job of portraying Richard's cousin and wife, Anne Neville. Watching her grow from silly child to loving wife to forlorn mother is a delight. The rest of the actors are asked to portray two or three different characters, and from both times. Douglas Hill, Ross Helwig and Martin Chandler succeed in the necessary differences and similarities between each of their characters, and aid as much as possible in exposing the then-and-now parallels of theme. Without the performer's guidance, and Ms. Wyer's precise direction, the play might not have been as comprehensible and as powerful.
Scenic Designer Joe MacGrath has created a stark representation of the castle of Richard at Middleham, which also works to represent other locales in England and in the character's minds. Norm Testa's lighting also does a good job giving visual clues as to location and theme, as do Linda Accetta Longhofer's costumes. T. Greg Squire's sound design is effective at some points, though some of the music choices, including Toby Twining's staccato vocalizations, are odd and inexplicable.
Tucson's Borderlands Theatre is one fourteen companies in America involved with the recently implemented National New Play Network. This initial offering is encouraging, and will hopefully lead to allowing many different voices from many different regions to be given national notice and recognition. While this particular play is a difficult and intellectually challenging piece, its interesting themes and explorations make it a worthwhile first candidate, and may hopefully lead to its necessary slight revisions of clarity and subsequent presentation in other areas of the country.
Production Details:
Two Days of Grace at Middleham by Toni Press-Coffman
Borderlands Theater at the Tucson Center for Performing Arts,
Tucson
(520) 882-7406
September 30th-October 10th, 1998