RICHARD III

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Because I was working with Tina Packer, a director whose main priority is to serve Shakespeare's text, it was clear from the outset that this approach called for a unit set with visual references to the main thematic and poetic elements that she identified.

There were three main elements that I chose to reflect my design:

• Richard's ambition and his rise to the throne from a lower state. My unit structure was a steeply raked ramp that rose from the stage floor on one side of the stage to the throne high above on the other side. The throne was revealed to be a ladder-like structure rising from the stage floor—its chair back the last rungs of Richard's rise to the top.
  
• Richard's method of achieving his goals through spider-like manipulations and selections. Another key aspect of the design was a configuration of ropes rigged to look like a spiders' web. Richard swung on these ropes and enticed his victims to their doom. In the final scene, he was caught in his own web and killed.
  
• The contrast between the exalted state of Richard and the Hell to which he consigned his victims. Consistent with other medieval themes the director underscored in her interpretation of the play, I adapted a painted backdrop from a 12th century altarpiece depicting the damned in Hell, a constant reminder of the fate that awaited Richard's victims.

The scale applied to this solution worked very well on the stage on which this production was performed, which featured a very shallow stage with an unusually wide opening.