Word: asylum
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Long the victim of radical altercation, time has proven Shakespeare especially receptive to changes in setting and order. Last weekend's Richard III is unusual in that both aspects were changed--not only was it produced backwards, it was produced backwards in an insane asylum. While the viability of both changes is suggested by the text itself, their simultaneous implementation is a very bold move. The historical Richard III was the deserving subject of horror stories for a good century prior to Shakespeare's dramatization, and undoubtedly, this is the same story, with all the murder, intrigue and back-stabbing...
Sussner originally got the idea of producing Richard III backwards after noticing Richard's obsession with time (he always seems to be asking "what o'clock is it?"). The idea of setting Richard in the insane asylum came later, inspired by the Halloween weekend production dates. Though the two ideas should theoretically work together (What better way to make a man obsessed with time mad than by reversing time's direction?), implementing them was too unwieldy to be well-executed. The ambitiousness of the project exacted a heavy toll on the production quality, creating confusion in both the staging...
...spite of some conceptual similarities, the insane asylum setting is difficult to reconcile with the medieval English court. With the House of York represented by patients and that of Lancaster by the doctors and nurses, the actors were saddled not only with the complexities of their original roles, but also with their roles in the medical hierarchy...
...young princes (and designated heirs) that Richard murders have an important role in the original production and probably suffer the most under the asylum theme. The boy's parts are played by a small plastic doll and "the boxing nun." The replacement of two rather essential roles becomes an annoyance as the play progresses...
Rebecca Feldman, staff attorney for the Boston College Immigration and Asylum Project and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, spoke about her work with asylum seekers in detention in local prisons...