Among his other skills, William Shakespeare was a most splendid ass kisser, and Richard III—offered now in an exhilaratingly subversive production from the Gift Theatre—is one of his greatest works in the lips-to-butt genre.
As the 2012 discovery of his lost bones, buried under an English parking lot, confirmed, Richard suffered from scoliosis—curvature of the spine. It doesn’t seem to have been that big a deal in real life; researchers say that, although it reduced his height, the condition could be hidden with well-tailored clothes and didn’t prevent Richard from walking normally. Or swinging a sword, for that matter. Yet Shakespeare seizes on it as the outer mark of inner ugliness. Indeed, Richard himself invokes it as the source of his rottenness, right there in act one, scene one: “I, that am . . . Deformed, unfinish’d, sent before my time / Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, / And that so lamely and unfashionable/ That dogs bark at me as I halt by them . . . I am determined to prove a villain.”
Through 5/1: Thu-Fri 8 PM, Sat 3:30 and 8 PM, Sun 3:30 PM Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Merle Reskin Garage Theatre 1624 N. Halsted 312-335-1650steppenwolf.org $15-$40
