(Picture by Mark Turek)
Ahh, a night at the thayater. Shakespeare, nonetheless! The frilly collars, the unnecessary British accents, the—holy crap, is that “My Body is a Cage?” Roughly speaking, that was my thought process during the first moments of Trinity Rep’s production of “Richard III,” which prominently featured the music of Arcade Fire. While I don’t think most of the audience recognized the music, relying heavily on a popular band in a play’s soundtrack can be risky. The lyrical, sonic, and thematic pieces have to fall exactly into place to make the intrusion beneficial instead of distracting. “Richard III” and director Kevin Moriarty used particularly effective snippets of songs instead of entire songs, which helped with this.
Also, by drawing primarily from the war-obsessed Neon Bible, the music aligns well with the play’s themes of battle, murder, and power. Sometimes it’s even a little too literal, such as when King Edward IV (Johnny Lee Davenport), Richard’s brother, is crowned while “The king’s takin’ back the throne” from “Intervention” plays. Plus, it’s not like Edward is taking it back in the first place. However, the triumphant organ music adds both solemnity and modernity to the scene, which is what this production is all about. By using power suits and fatigues for costumes and modern execution methods like lethal injection, “Richard III” is made both relevant and serious, and music that reflects our wartime culture definitely enhances this. “Black Mirror”’s creepy paranoia and “Windowsill”’s resigned sadness are also used to great effect in this production. “Richard III” truly has something for everyone with its stunning language, insidiously charismatic protagonist, and truly awesome fight scenes. Its appeal is only further enhanced by judicious use of solid music that both geriatric Shakespeare fans and punk-ass teens like me looking for some blood and gore can appreciate.
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