Does Color Blindness Count?

By WILLIAM A. HENRY III

RICHARD III by William Shakespeare

The hottest issue in the American theater is "nontraditional casting," the notion of giving roles to actors regardless of race, ethnicity, even gender. This does not mean simply mounting an all-black, all-Hispanic or all-Asian version of a show, but providing a rainbow jumble in which, at the extreme, parents of one race may be portrayed as having children of several others. The idea has been around for decades, but is gathering force as the U.S. becomes increasingly multiracial. Proponents argue that nontraditional casting helps bridge a gap between today's diversity and the narrow North European focus of the classics: in all Shakespeare, for example, only two substantial characters are written as black, none as Asian. Opponents say such casting often flies in the face of historical reality -- as in the choice of a black, Josette Simon, to play in a current London revival of Arthur Miller's After the Fall in a role based on Marilyn Monroe.

Like most high-minded artistic theories, nontraditional casting is only as good as the art it inspires. Few productions follow the theory more diligently, or illustrate more sharply both its merits and its pitfalls, than the staging of Shakespeare's Richard III that opened last week in New York City's Central Park. The title role is played by Oscar winner Denzel Washington (Glory), whose skin is almost as dark as the sepulchral black of his costume. His brother George, the Duke of Clarence, is played by the fair and blond Joseph Ziegler. A third brother of their clan, King Edward IV, is played by a white performer, as is his Queen. But their child and heir is black, and one of the Queen's brothers is Asian. Audiences are expected to be laudably color-blind. Unreasonably, they are also expected to know the text and its complicated genealogy so well -- or to follow it so closely -- as to overcome the confusion naturally engendered by defying the laws of genetics. On opening night it was apparent that many spectators kept looking for some pattern to ethnic casting choices that were unified only in being deliberately random.

As Shakespeare's most malignant and funniest villain, Washington emphasizes force at the expense of charm. Hence his scenes of combat and command work splendidly, while scenes of seduction and connivance mostly falter. Among the gallery of women -- the best female parts in any of Shakespeare's histories -- two excel. As the widow of King Henry VI, murdered before the action begins, Mary Alice adopts an odd, incantatory style that suggests Cassandra- like vision and madness. As Edward IV's widow, plunged from glory to despair, Canadian actress Nancy Palk demonstrates anew that she is one of North America's foremost classical performers, at once studied and spontaneous. But Robin Phillips' staging feels underrehearsed and lacks a point of view. A tribute to nontraditional casting is not enough to sustain 3 1/2 hours of maledictions and blank verse.

Richard III opened on the same day that Actors' Equity ended the biggest controversy about nontraditional casting on Broadway in decades. After voting two weeks ago to bar British actor Jonathan Pryce from repeating his London triumph in Miss Saigon, the performers' union approved him to appear as a Eurasian pimp, over the protest of Asian actors who contend that ethnically open casting is meant to expand opportunities, not take away the few good roles available to them. The union prudently decided that color blindness must apply both ways -- at least when it involves the threatened cancellation of a musical with advance sales of $25 million sevenmonths before the first performance.