Madigan on Richard III: A role that explores the idea that ‘this disability may be why I’m killing people’
In 2012, archaeologists announced that they had found the skeletal remains of King Richard III under a parking lot in Leicester, England, and that this legendarily “humped” figure likely suffered from scoliosis. The discovery moved some to consider the role of disability in the character of the monarch, who was so memorably immortalized by Shakespeare as a brutal opportunist.
Now, the role is being taken on here in Portland, and the implications of the character’s misshapen body explored, by a man with a disability of his own: Stephen Madigan, a paraplegic, will portray Richard III in a wheelchair, in a production directed by Sally Wood, produced by Madigan himself, and presented at the Portland Stage Company Studio Theater with an array of superb local actors in supporting roles.
Portland native Madigan, a radiologist in middle age who has used a wheelchair since his early twenties, is the first to admit that he is not a career actor: His only previous acting role was in fifth grade.
“I had five lines,” he said jovially, before a rehearsal last week, “and I screwed them up.” But he came from a theatrical family immersed in Shakespeare, classical music and theology, and as an adult he was drawn to Richard’s famed soliloquy. After studying and memorizing it, he says, he was encouraged by local actor Joe Quinn to attempt the role himself.
Madigan found his interest deepened when the real-life king’s bones were discovered, and he commenced to read everything he could find about Shakespeare and the everyday life of the period. He also began what would become his seven-month search for a director.
With encouragement from Andrew Harris, Artistic and Executive Director of Deertrees Theatre and Production Manager of Portland Stage Company, in the fall of 2013 Madigan met well-established Portland actor and director Sally Wood, and from then until just a few months ago, he has been rehearsing the part with Arthur Hill, a theater professor at the University of Maine at Machias.
Spurred by his reading, Madigan pondered what it might have meant for a monarch to have such a disability in an age when being “crippled” was often considered the fate of commoners or “sinners.”
And the concept of being “disabled” itself proved a mental adjustment for him.
“I’ve been in a wheelchair for a long time,” says Madigan, “but I don’t think of myself as disabled.”
What he sees in Richard III is “a fascinating play about a person’s psyche” – about a character, he notes, who obsesses about his disability in his opening lines, and who is clearly devastated by his own mother’s disgust for him.
“I have to convince myself that this is who I am,” says Madigan, “that this disability may be why I’m killing people, at least partially.”
Madigan and Wood have attracted some stellar local theater talents to the cast, including some we haven’t had the pleasure of seeing onstage for months or more, like Corey Gagne, who gives a harrowing monologue as Tyrrell (ordered by Richard to kill the king’s little nephews), and Lisa Muller-Jones, as his Richard’s bereaved sister-in-law.
The cast also features the fine Mark Rubin, Molly Roberts, Max Waszak, Robbie Harrison, and Carmen-Maria Mandley (who delivers a bracingly funny-scary monologue as Margaret). Physical movement in the show is taut and, in the case of an execution, even jaw-dropping.
And that the lead is in a wheelchair – his head several feet below those of the people he addresses – contributes a compelling power dynamic, an extra edge to his aggression. Wheeling up to people, so smoothly and silently, Madigan’s Richard has a disarming stealth, and his thoughtful delivery reflects the immense time devoted to considering and feeling through the king’s physical and psychological dimensions.
Acknowledging his newness to the stage, Madigan hopes that he’ll inspire other non-professionals to give a new art a try. He likes the idea that “people with low self-esteem, or disabilities, or whatever, could come to this play, and say, “Wow, that guy in a wheelchair is playing Richard III. Maybe I could, too.”
Richard III, by William Shakespeare. Directed by Sally Wood. Produced by Stephen Madigan at the Portland Stage Studio Theater, Aug. 12-15. Call 207.847.8020 or visit richardthethirdmaine.com.
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