"When you have the women essentially speaking to another woman who is playing a man, there's something quite interesting," O'Hara said, "because when you see the relief of all the men standing around doing absolutely nothing but enabling this person, it becomes sort of shockingly realistic in today's world." The female characters, like Queen Margaret, consistently call him out on his misdeeds. Sharon Washington as Lady Margaret - who tries to warn the court about Richard's machinations.īut not everyone says okay to Richard. "And I think that does reflect on, How do these guys even get into power? Like somebody says, 'Okay.' A lot of people say, 'Okay.'" "It becomes a really fascinating exploration because it really is saying, 'you're coming with me and guess what? You're kind of complicit because you're having a good time, aren't you?'" Gurira said. Richard develops an intimate relationship with the audience through his frequent soliloquies, where he baldly confesses all the murder and mayhem he's planning. "It's what was going on in the 1400s and it's what's going on today."Īnd, of course, Gurira immersed herself in Shakespeare's language. "A despot's desire and goal is really to retain power for as long as possible," Gurira says. And so she prepared by reading The Dictator's Handbook, which she found invaluable. Her play Eclipsed was set Liberia's civil war when a group tried to depose dictator Charles Taylor. She's long been fascinated by actual and wannabe dictators. In preparing for the role, Gurira studied the history of dictators and despots. Richard is brutal in his political ambition – he kills or orders the execution of anyone in his way. "Is there a different experience the audience has when they hear misogyny come through a female body? Does it highlight it more? Does it sharpen it in terms of how grotesque it is? And I hope it does," she said. She said that it was interesting to explore "toxic masculinity" as a perpetrator instead of an object - and that the role brought up a lot of questions. Gurira took her two months to say yes to the part, but once she started preparing, she got excited. "And it felt right, but it was nothing I would ever have thought of myself." "I remember just laughing and finding it really thrilling and scary," said Gurira.
Gurira is a classically trained actress, but when New York's Public Theater asked if she'd like to play Richard III this summer in Central Park, she was surprised. Danai Gurira, best known for her roles in Marvel films like Black Panther and television's The Walking Dead, is playing King Richard onstage. This summer, it's being played with a twist. The villainous monarch has been played by actors from Laurence Olivier to Ian McKellen to Mark Rylance. Richard III is one of Shakespeare's greatest roles. Danai Gurira and Matthew August Jeffers in the Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III.
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