Stage Reviews : A Respectful, No-Frills ‘Richard III’ at Actors Alley

Arguably, the most poisonous and outrageous seduction scenes in English literature are Richard III’s reptilian triumphs over Lady Anne and Queen Elizabeth. At the Actors Alley Repertory Theatre, actor Walter Raymond’s hunchbacked “jolly, thriving wooer” propels “Richard III” onto the track of single-minded energy the play demands.

Raymond’s lithe serpent of a Richard insidiously worms his honeyed tongue past the defenses of Anne and Elizabeth, whose loved ones he has murdered to better proffer his own love. These scenes, which bookend icy, bloody intrigues, are the production’s linchpins, as directed by Jordan Charney in his swan song after five years as artistic director of the company.

Charney has not cut a line of the play. Though the running time is three hours with two intermissions, events rush headlong. Line readings are clear and unpretentious. Nobody in the cast of 22 poses or pauses for a declamation.

Forget spectacle. For a company that had never staged Shakespeare before, the result is respectful and accessible, the unadorned, budget-conscious set and costumes notwithstanding.

Often productions of “Richard III,” for brevity’s sake, eliminate a royal lady altogether or rob one of them (frequently Queen Margaret) of a harangue. Not here. The role of the women, a tight, wailing chorus, is restored to its prominence. A contemporary abused wife syndrome even jumps into focus, giving balance to the plot’s noise and bustle.

Raymond’s jaunty villain catches Richard’s wit, not to mention his crooked body, which Raymond negotiates with deft economy. But Raymond’s nasty, ruthless wooing could not work without the flashing repartee and convincing, measured retreats of Joann DiSano’s Anne and Leslie Paxton’s Elizabeth.

This foul king knows psychology and here it’s sex that Shakespeare’s “toad” pushes to the limit. Among the other women, Bobbi Holtzman’s joyless, embittered dowager Margaret and Joan Benedict’s defiant Duchess of York (Richard’s mother) enliven a nest of squawking talons.

In the men’s world, Steven Kavner’s Buckingham is sturdy and powerfully intoned, and Brian Paul Fornes’ Henry VII-to-be is the image of noble heroism.

As a surprise, Charney directs a new ending that is not as jarring as it sounds: In an unspoken suicidal act, Richard III plunges Henry’s sword into his own chest. The moment is designed to complete the unrepentant Richard’s final haunting of his dream of ghosts the night before battle (“Despair, and die!”). We can live with that.

Performances at 4334 Van Nuys Blvd., Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sunday, March 5, 2 p.m., until March 18. Tickets: $10-$13. (818) 986-2278.