CRITICS

Helen Shaw on Richard III ... Lewis Gordon on Stray... Kathryn Van Arendonk on Bill Burr: Live at Red Rocks.

THEATER/ HELEN SHAW

The King and Who?

A pared-down Richard III, now even harder to follow.

RICHARD III DIRECTED BY ROBERT O'HARA. THE DELACORTE THEATER. ENDED JULY 17.

THE ESSENTIAL FEELING of Shakespeare in the Park is a breeze. Maybe it's a pretty evening in Central Park and the trees dreamily stir their branches; maybe the weather is hot and you fan yourself with your program. No matter the show, there's always some moment when you feel the night moving against your skin. Lighter pieces are easiest because they sway with the air.

It's therefore already a challenge to get Shakespeare's Richard III to work at the Delacorte. It's certainly a funny tragedy, full of snide asides from the sociopath at its center, but it's about as breezy as a tornado. The English duke Richard, through trickery and force, rolls like a juggernaut through his own family, murdering right and left to reach the crown. The tale requires escalating intensity, which is tricky to achieve in an environment that's always trying to lure your attention away. (Look! A duck!) You need tension, clarity, and a meticulously delivered text. Robert O'Hara's production has ideas-but is not rich in those other things, and it lets our focus waver.

In an effort to keep the audience's attention, the glittering Danai Gurira plays Richard with desperation, as though she's yoked to something heavy: She sometimes shrugs her shoulders forward as if in harness, or she takes a particularly wide turn as if a cape were flaring behind her. Her Richard is an entitled aristo rather than a calculating imp, a swaggering T. rex instead of a darting velociraptor. Her evident grace and glamour vault her over the other characters. But O'Hara's baffling production is glue under her black boots; as hard as she tugs, it fights her.