REVIEW

Here stands a thoroughly deformed Richard, part Fonzie, part Fozzie Bear.

The Machiavelli of Richard III (the two men were, in fact, contemporaries) makes great hay of the play's often comical first half, but he does it in such a way that sacrifices the menace required to create Shakespeare's archetypal villain.

Jesse Berger's direction takes its biggest misstep with the lead role, and it's a sizable misstep, indeed. Andrew Long's Richard indulges in overkill at nearly every turn. He doesn't just have a stooped back: He has a limp, a crippled arm and leg braces. He doesn't just make humorous, self-knowing cracks behind the backs of his pawns: He spends nearly the entire first act winking and gesturing to the audience, underlining the jokes in case we don't get the words. The Fonz comes in when he snaps a finger and votives and a rose window light up; Fozzie lives in the vaudevillian wisecracks he makes.

There are plenty of clever remarks in Richard III, but they shouldn't come at the expense of the villain's menace. He's more disgusting than frightening, which makes it hard to understand why his manipulations work, whether it's in holding the loyalty of Buckingham (John Hutton, stalwart with unclear motives), whom he will inevitably betray, or seducing the widow and daughter of two men he killed (Nisi Sturgis, radiant in grief as Lady Anne).

This production belongs very much to the women. Jeanne Paulsen blows through two scenes as the tornado Queen Margaret, left a wizened but wiser crone by the Wars of the Roses. She reveals Margaret's own gift for savagery as well as her great strength and is endlessly fascinating.

She forms a triptych of furies with Kathleen McCall's Queen Elizabeth and Kathleen M. Brady's Duchess of York. McCall displays Elizabeth's delight in the trappings of the monarchy, then ascends to a sadder, stronger plane as those trappings are ripped away. Brady must watch her family not only die, but at the hand of her son, Richard, and her cursing of him may be the most devastating.

David M. Barber has created a striking scenic design, with iron bars making room for a cathedral's rose window, while the stage is ringed with skeletal fragments. Don Darnutzer's lighting creates mystery and drama, but David Kay Mickelsen's costumes are unintelligible. In some mix of medieval clothing, modern-day sadomasochism and avant-garde couture, the result is a Comme des Garcons show that leaves fashion editors raving and customers unmoved. Richard's clothes are dominated by black leather and metal studs; Jane Shore, with a tower of red curls and a one-shoulder gown, looks like Kathy Griffin would if she opened a sci-fi brothel.

The violence is terrifically staged by Geoffrey Kent, the supporting cast is skilled, but in the end we are left with a protagonist who is jangled out of tune. The result is a play that fully achieves neither its laughs nor its chills.

bornsteinl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5101

Richard III

* Grade: C+

* When and where: Through Feb. 28 in the Stage Theatre of the Denver Performing Arts Complex

* Cost: $34 and up

* Information: 303-893-4100