A comical twist upon Richard III that turns dark indeed, Teenage Dick revamps Shakespeare’s misshapen anti-hero into a disabled high schooler who plots to become senior class president. “Now that the winter formal gives way to glorious spring fling,” begins this modern-day Richard, who has no intention of letting cerebral palsy get in his way of ruling Roseland High School.
Staged in association with the Public Theater, where it is performed, Teenage Dick is a wicked notion for a wry comedy that for the most part is cleverly realized by its makers. For a goodly part of its 100 minutes, both the play and its snappy Ma-Yi Theater Company production are entertaining. Then abruptly and incongruously, everything slides down the drain into seriousness. More about that in a bit and in the meantime, let’s look on the bright side:
Mike Lew, a smart playwright, wisely does not replicate the greater bulk of Shakespeare’s plot and sizeable character roster as this Richard (Gregg Mozgala) schemes to topple Eddie (Alex Breaux), a bullying jock, from preeminence at school. Exploiting his physical disability, Richard manipulates his candidacy around Elizabeth York (Marinda Anderson), a gung-ho English teacher who is the senior class advisor. Next, Richard convinces his frenemy Barbara “Buck” Buckingham (Shannon DeVido) to undermine the electoral chances of Clarissa (Sasha Diamond), a goody two-shoes sort of overachiever. Then Richard cunningly gets into the good graces of Anne (Tiffany Vallarin), the most popular girl in school and Eddie’s ex, and lands her to be his date at the big dance. There’s more, but let’s not go there yet.
Lew also does not overlabor the play with Shakespearean references. There often are Tudor-esque touches to Richard’s conversation, but just as often he is called out on this peculiarity by the others. “Who talks like that?” snaps Buck.
The playwright states that actors with disabilities should be cast in the roles of Richard and Buck. Lew’s intentions are observed by director Moritz von Stuelpnagel, who previously staged Hand to God and the recent Broadway revival of Present Laughter. The artists he picked are a treat to observe even as their presence lends authenticity to these characters. The charismatic Mozgala depicts Richard as a sly charmer whose mischievous remarks to the audience take the sting from his machinations. Wheeling about in her motorized chair, all sardonic tones and sour grimaces, DeVido is delightfully snarky as Buck. The other actors deliver capable performances.
And so the comedy amusingly plays out amid the blue and red lockers and trophy cases of the high school locations flexibly designed by Wilson Chin. Until suddenly it isn’t funny anymore: Richard’s doings unexpectedly set off an overwhelming avalanche of adverse social media commentaries à la Dear Evan Hansen that rapidly drives people to mayhem and suicide.
No doubt the playwright intends to rock the audience with such a bitter ending, but coming out of nowhere as this conclusion does, the effect is more disconcerting than honestly dramatic. Sure, Richard III is riddled with duplicity and deaths, but they are consistent with the mordant nature of the play. Teenage Dick is a cheerful little gloss on Shakespeare’s story that simply gets nasty: It’s a bait-and-switch tactic that seems as double-dealing as any deed that Richard ever did.
