She’s Richard III, Hear Her Roar

The perilous times afoot render William Shakespeare’s “Richard III” more urgently topical than ever. Appropriately, adapter-director Chris Kelley’s Theatre of NOTE production favors contemporary insight, embodied by a remarkable ensemble spearheaded by Jacqueline Wright’s award-worthy title villain.

Kelley refreshes the Bard’s study of corrupted ambition by examining isolation’s effect on the pathological persona. The reading submerges iambic pentameter in tempos ranging from dryly conversational to thunderously declamatory.

Amplifying this is the intimate arena configuration, with the audience surrounding Manriki Guzari’s stark playing field. Robert Oriol’s sound and lighting create eerie chiaroscuro, and Miguel Montalvo’s superb monochromatic costumes combine an array of historic silhouettes with modern wit, as in court reporters suitable for the Daily Planet.

Wright, her mercurial articulation traversing the entire sardonic scale, is a revelation, so invested that the gender switch is a nonissue. This comet ignites Rosemary Lotus Boyce’s rueful Anne, Judith Ann Levitt’s incantatory Margaret, Katherine Gibson’s wrenching Elizabeth and Elizabeth Liang’s steely Duchess of York.

Other indelible pawns include Christopher Neiman’s Clarence, who recalls the late John Cazale; Stewart Skelton’s reedy Buckingham; and Montalvo’s giddy Hastings; and the assassins of David Reynolds and Ezra Buzzington, but, really, everyone excels.

Their triumphant commitment provides recompense for the sole liability: fluctuating visibility. I heard “now is the winter of our discontent” without seeing Wright’s delivery and, changing sides after intermission, found “my kingdom for a horse” obscured. Nothing quells the production’s electrifying trajectory, though, not even sporadic charges of radio drama.

*

“Richard III,” Theatre of NOTE, 1517 Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 6 and 20, 4 p.m. Ends Oct. 26. $15. (323) 856-8611. Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes.