Having seen two productions by Epiphany Shakespeare Company (Hamlet: The Clown Prince and Richard III, A Twisted Fairytale) there are several conclusions we can confidently reach. Joshuah Patricaro is extremely talented. He is an excellent Shakespearean actor. He understands the canon as well as anyone. He is an excellent writer with extraordinary vision for Shakespeare’s work. He is far above average as a director. But he is also his own worst enemy.

Patricaro understands that Shakespeare provides the foundation for many popular characters. In this Richard III Patricaro places the story in Disner. Disner is a land where Sir Jiminy, Ursul, The Sea Dog, Sleeping Beauty, Prince Peter, the Evil Queen, the Duchess of Deville, the Old Hag, Lord Hook and Malevolent all have prominent roles. Of course, none of these characters in any way reference Disney characters with similar names and appearances, but they all seamlessly blend into the world of King Edward and Richard III. Patricaro pulls this off while maintaining the story of Richard III largely intact. It certainly was not as easy a task as seeing Batman as Hamlet (which is rather obvious).

The problem that Patricaro has is that he is far too impatient to get his work to the stage and too controlling of the creative process. Richard III, A twisted Fairy Tale certainly may someday be an exciting piece for a long run off-Broadway or many productions at Regional or school theaters. But it needs the services of a good Dramaturg to help Patricaro smooth out the many rough edges. Patricaro seems to get his work to stage as soon as he thinks he has completed it without taking the time for serious editing or an independent objective critique.

Patricaro’s direction in Richard III was very good, but it was obvious that this was the largest stage he had ever directed on and that led to mistakes in scene transitions that he could have easily avoided. He started every scene in the middle of the stage. Wisely he never has his characters stay there for long. But starting in the middle of the stage required him to go to black at every scene change which made the production 5 to 10 minutes longer than it needed to be. That cut in length is important to achieve in a three-hour production. Wearing as many hats as he does means he misses things that another person would quickly see.

The acting was very good and three performances stood out. Patricaro was outstanding as Richard III(Malevolent). Thomas Annunziatta as Buckingham(Royal Vizer) and Rommel Sermons as Prince Clarence were also exceptional – bringing their Shakespearean chops to this parody.

Richard III is not yet what it should be, but certainly possible for it to achieve a high level of success with future refinements.