Veteran actor John Walcutt is returning to Shakespeare Orange County, where he first sank his teeth into the bard’s words more than three decades ago when it was called the Grove Shakespeare Festival. This time around he’s tackling a more substantial and mature role – one of Shakespeare’s most formidable villains, Richard III. Performances begin July 19 at Garden Grove’s Festival Amphitheatre.
We talked recently to Walcutt about what it’s like to play the dark-hearted hunchback king who mercilessly kills everyone who crosses him.
The Orange County Register: What are the challenges to playing one of the most evil characters in the Shakespeare canon?
John Walcutt: I think probably the biggest challenge for me right now is that he changes quickly; he’s so mercurial. Nothing he does is really justified. A lot of people talk about how this is the play that bridges the gap from old Greek tragedy to (drama) that is more modern and psychological. Since I am a modern actor and I come from that tradition of (psychological analysis) – my first big teacher was Lee Strasberg – I look in that direction. There isn’t a lot to grab onto with Richard aside from his relationship to his mother. He is a completely different person when he’s with her. There is something there that is his Achilles’ heel.
The Register: You’ve played a fair share of evil characters in your many TV roles. Do you like being the bad guy?
Walcutt: It is fun to play this kind of evil and madness. But it always makes (me) wish I had a couple of months to dig and look into him and make interesting choices. It doesn’t really work that way in our system anymore. We only have 2½ weeks. It just goes like lightning. Even though Tom Bradac (Shakespeare Orange County’s artistic director) talked to me months ago about the part, it’s completely different when you get in the ring and there are all these other people. Suddenly you have a hump and a brace and all these kids are yelling and thrusting swords at you.
The Register: Some people justify Richard’s behavior as a cold, Machiavellian approach to political dominance – something modern audiences can understand.
Walcutt: The political structure of this play is very much something to hang onto. For me the biggest challenge is really dealing with the madness and the megalomania that comes with that. He’s so hungry and paranoid. The moment he senses somebody turning on him, they’re dead. And the bodies pile up quickly.
The Register: “Richard III” is one of Shakespeare’s longest plays. Is learning the lines a challenge?
Walcutt: It’s huge. It really is. It’s overwhelming. I’ve played Hamlet and Henry V and Richard II and a lot of other big parts. This one seems the most difficult. I think it’s because things change so quickly. I find myself constantly in the middle of something and suddenly a messenger comes in and there’s a completely unexpected turn in the plot. I have to immediately react to that.
The Register: Some actors make a big deal out of Richard’s physical deformities and limitations. Others don’t. How are you approaching that aspect of the role?
Walcutt: I think my Richard will be very physically affected. It’s kind of the nature of who I am and how I work. Unfortunately, the actual hump and leg brace will come in at the last minute and suddenly everything I’ve been rehearsing will be altered by the changed physicality and the fact that the performance stage is raked. And that’s going to happen two nights before we have our first audience. Initially I was trying to develop something more extreme in the costuming, so I didn’t have to act (the deformities) as much. It didn’t turn out that way. We’ve talked about the possibility that Richard has compensated for his disability by overdeveloping his right side – he has a massive right arm and leg. That’s where his power comes from in the battlefield. We’ll see how it manifests itself.
The Register: You’ve been here before to do Shakespeare. What roles did you have?
Walcutt: In 1981 when I was a kid I was here in one of the very first seasons of the Grove Shakespeare Festival, which I think was on the forefront of Shakespeare festivals on the West Coast. Then I came back in 1994 and played Mercutio in “Romeo and Juliet.” Then I got more involved in film and TV work. Last year I came back again to play Cassius in “Julius Caesar.”
The Register: Are you trying to do more theater roles again at this stage of your career?
Walcutt: It was a conscious decision on my part. I spent many seasons at the Old Globe (in San Diego). That’s what I really loved. At a certain point I was around a lot of terrific older actors and I realized what my life would be like without TV residuals. The time flies by; now I have a really nice SAG pension. I can afford to go back (to theater) and take these kinds of challenges again.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7979 or phodgins@ocregister.com
