“Thus, like the formal vice”: Mark Rylance and clowning in Richard III

Abstract

Much attention has been given to the comedy of Mark Rylance’s Shakespeare performances and his interaction with the audience. Comedy and audience interaction informed the initial creation of many of Shakespeare’s roles, particularly Richard III, a figure indebted to the medieval Vice character. Rylance and his collaborators often attribute the playing to the audience as part of Original Practices, however, Rylance’s performances also demonstrate many of the attributes of contemporary theatrical clowning. Contemporary clowning, as expounded by Jacques Lecoq and his aesthetic descendants, places particular emphasis on the relationship of failure and the audience. The power of Rylance’s performance as Richard III comes from this synthesis of past and present to create a contemporary hybrid style. This essay will showcase the importance of failure and the audience to contemporary clown, before comparing it to the use of audience and comedy in Shakespeare’s Richard. After examining the two historical moments, the paper turns to the ways Rylance embodies different aspects of past and present theatrical forms, using a hybrid practice to create a Richard of his own theatrical moment, thus reflecting but not replicating tensions tensions between past and present theatrical practices of the initial creation of the role.

Keywords:

• Shakespeare
• clowning
• Mark Rylance
• Jacques Lecoq
• failure
• audience
• Richard III

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For an analysis of Lecoq’s wide ranging influence see (Heddon and Milling 2016, 160–161).

2 Alan C. Dessen has noted the variety of stage practices that exist under the banner of OP. In addition to the most notable employer of OP (Shakespeare’s reconstructed Globe in London) various sites use the term, including the Atlanta Tavern Theatre and American Shakespeare Company located in Staunton Virginia. Dessen finds “The on-stage practices linked to the term, however, can vary widely, for few common denominators are to be found among the practitioners (Dessen 2008, 45).

3 The production was originally conceived for the Globe space and moved to the more traditional theatre. While the Broadway theatre was a traditional proscenium space, there were additional seats put on stage, house lights did not go completely dark, and actors dressed and chatted with the audience on stage before the performance. All of these tools help center the audience, but for actors and those in the audience.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dave Peterson

Dave Peterson is an assistant professor of theatre at California State University, Bakersfield. He previously taught at North Central College outside of Chicago and Colby College in Maine. His research focuses on contemporary theatrical clown, particularly its relationship to canonical texts. He holds a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in Theatre and Performance Studies. He has previously published on clowning in Contemporary Theatre Review. He has published reviews in Theatre Topics, Theatre Journal, and Theatre Survey. He has shared work at The Association of Theatre in Higher Education, the Mid America Theatre Conference, The American Society for Theatre Research, and others.