THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 22, 1995 TAG: 9507210073
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
WHAT'S A PREACHER'S kid doing playing the heavy?
Virginia Beach actor Joel Ladd, raised the son of a Nazarene minister in Vermont, has recently played an abusive husband and a nasty character called Avarice, both at Norfolk's Generic Theater.
Now he's taken on one of the theater's greatest villains - Richard III. Ladd has the challenging title role in the Virginia Shakespeare Festival's production of the Shakespeare tragedy at Phi Betta Kappa Hall in Williamsburg.
``I'm tall and I'm dark, and I have a sculpted face,'' said Ladd, explaining the casting trend.
``And I connect emotionally with darkness. Because I like truth, I'm always attracted to things that are more deeply emotional. And the essence of art is showing truth, whether that's beautiful truth or dark truth.
``All truth is God's truth.''
Spoken like a preacher's son.
Yet, Richard III is completely shorn of godly traits. He's only honest when directing comments to the audience, revealing his vengeful plans to murder his brother, wife and cohorts - anybody who stands in the way of obtaining and keeping the crown.
To get into the role, Ladd, 34, spent a lot of time exploring what made Richard tick. He studied a videotape of Ted Bundy telling how he came to be a serial killer.
From that tape, ``I really got a way into the darkness, to the desire to hurt and destroy others. A way to identify with how a regular nice guy who, because of his own hurts and wounds and the way he had been treated in his life, could turn and find the necessity and desire to strike out and hurt others.''
Why would he do it? ``To re-establish some sense of power.
``In my world (as Richard III), I have two approaches to people: If they're useful, I flatter them. If they cross me, they're dead.''
He began looking into Richard's maladies, which were extreme as written by Shakespeare in 1592-93: He is hunch-backed, has a nearly useless hand and walks with a lumbering limp.
So Ladd went to a medical library and read about humpbacks. He learned that the condition results from a twisted spinal column, with the hump produced by ribs poking through the back, he said. The twisting puts pressure on organs and makes it hard to breathe.
He worked on Richard's physicality. ``I had to decide that quickly. I needed to let the costume shop know what I would be shaped like, so the costumes would fit.''
He opted for a slightly padded hump and black leather gloves to cover his mauled hands.
Once cast in late April, Ladd began working on his lines. It's an enormous role, and the first time Ladd had performed Shakespeare in 12 years.
``I can't imagine a bigger role, other than a one-man show,'' he said. ``I was scared. Friends told me I had every right to be scared.''
So he put all of his lines on index cards, 183 in all. And he took the cards everywhere, whether in-line skating in Virginia Beach or hiking the parks near Williamsburg.
He made a study of running and walking on the trails as a humpback. ``Richard's left arm was withered, so I would pull it up along with the left leg. And I wouldn't quit until I left the park. If I met somebody along the way, fine. They might stare at me. I just kept at it.''
One of the most helpful exercises, at the suggestion of director Keith Fowler, was finding his ``center,'' and then Richard's ``center.'' In theatrical terms, a center is the visualization of the core of a person, or character.
Ladd's own center looked like ``a diamond in my solar plexis, with dancing light and energy of different colors.''
Richard's center was more amorphous. ``Ever seen pig iron? It's this stuff from a molting process, this lumpy, purplish clump of iron that has obviously been melted and is all bubbly.''
Just before he goes on stage each night, Ladd goes off by himself to talk with Richard. The last thing he does before striding onto the stage is speak these words in a stage whisper:
``Despair and die!''
That phrase triggers Richard's appearance within Ladd. ``Then he's sucked into this cavernous hole in his center. His arm and his leg are actually being drawn into it, and that is why he is ultimately destroyed in the end.'' MEMO: STAGE NOTES
What: ``Richard III'' by William Shakespeare, presented by Virginia
Shakespeare Festival.
Where: Phi Beta Kappa Hall, Jamestown Road, Williamsburg
When: Tonight, Wednesday, Friday and July 30 at 8 p.m.
How much: $12 (group rates available)
Call: 221-2674 by CNB