First of all Richard III is a very early play of Shakespeare's and it shows. The thing is four hours long! With 36 speaking parts! Most of whom only appear in one scene, many of whom are never identified! Plus over three of those hours have the same character on stage! Add to that fact the events involved were as familiar to Elizabethans as the Kennedy family is to us, but most Americans barely have a clue (no particular reason they should).
More than that, many of the very best Shakespeare adaptations such as Tempest Redux (zahirblue.blogspot.com/2016/02/tempest- ... eview.html) here in LA eschew a traditional edit/performance in such a way as to make it even more purely itself (yeah I know that sounds odd too). For example last summer I saw a version of Romeo and Juliet with all the genders reversed. It opened one's eyes about the play's content, because suddenly we saw Julian's birthday party as what it was--a meat market for a pubescent Capulet, who was on display for those eager to deflower him. Likewise the violence of teens going at each other with knives seemed more shocked--and real--because these were teenage girls. And when the Nurse talks about "these women" from an actual position of subservience, rather than just bitching about those darn females, it felt much more fresh, vivid, even disturbing.
I've edited Richard III down to about 90 minutes, with a cast of 14 (maybe 12 with doubling). Along the way I tried to throw what happens in the play into sharp relief. This frankly meant shifting scenes around, moving lines from one character to another, cutting a bunch of characters while melding others together. I very much expanded the role of Lady Anne, Richard's wife and queen. Along the way I borrowed lines (and sometimes scenes) from other of Shakespeare's plays--Henry VI Part 3, Henry V, Titus Andronicus and even Romeo and Juliet.
In less that two weeks' time, a (truly amazing) cast is meeting to read through the thing and give their feedback. Am very excited! Among other things, this also does something quite vital in live theatre--build buzz amid the local audience, laying the groundwork for fund-raising and later for ticket sales. Heh heh...we'll even sell t-shirts and coffee mugs! Not yet, though.
![Image](img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/zahir13/RICHARD.logo.02A.jpg)