Discomfort guides this servant’s tongue, you see
When first to speak on the venue known as the DCAC
But fear not, playgoers, for I share with you
Good news of The Rude Mechanicals and their show of Richard II
Laboriously titled The Life and Death Of
They present to you from one floor above
A judiciously rendered version that moves quite free
Of this early and poetic tale of history
Directed by Michael F.
“But whate’er I be, nor I, nor any man that but man is, with nothing shall be pleased till he be eased with being nothing.” A profoundly Zen quote to come from the tongue of Shakespeare. Uttered by the title character of Richard II, which is now playing at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company under the direction of Kevin J. Costa, the quote brings to mind a different way of viewing life and of viewing Shakespeare’s tragic histories.
What can we bequeath save our deposed bodies to the ground? Shakespearean essence in its purest sense; we are the stuff that dust is made of and our legacy is little more than our fragile mortal coil. An innovative new way of experiencing Shakespearean tragedy is striking up discourse on the stage of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company as the 2014 season progresses. The rarely performed Richard II is reinventing the meaning of tragedy under the skillful direction of Kevin J.