Reviews ~

“Director Richard Width has put together a nearly seamless small-scale production, and he has drawn compelling parallels between the world of the play and our own.” ~ Directing, Measure for Measure Orlando Sentinel

“Measure for Measure benefits not just from Width’s very creative staging, but also from a superb cast that manages to carry off high drama and very low comedy in equal measure, so to speak. ” ~ Directing, Measure for Measure, The Reporter

“The Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s Hamlet looks on paper like a standard-issue high-concept production, transplanted from ancient Denmark to Victorian England. But Richard Width and Bob Phillips, the director and set designer, respectively, have stirred in a cupful of spooky horror-show populism, pumping the stage full of mist and making eye-catching use of a strategically positioned trapdoor. One might almost be watching an unusually literate vampire flick aimed at a youthful audience, an impression reinforced by Avery Clark’s flamboyantly physical performance of the title role. Mr. Clark is supported by a finely spoken cast—I especially liked Marni Penning as Ophelia, Steve Hendrickson as Polonius and Eric Zivot as Claudius—and by the sound design of Matthew Given, who has mashed up Brahms, Dvorák, Debussy and Arvo Pärt into a sumptuous sonic backdrop. All this makes for one of the most theatrically potent “Hamlets” I’ve seen in a good many seasons, far fresher than last year’s Jude Law-powered Broadway production and, I suspect, more accessible to boot. I brought along two friends who’d never seen “Hamlet” and knew nothing about the play beyond the barest of basics. Both found it exciting, absorbing and—most important—intelligible.” ~ Directing, Hamlet, Wall Street Journal

“From the opening scene, in which the king’s ghost levitates out of the floor in a sea of fog, to the final fencing duel, director Richard Width has crafted a supremely theatrical show stocked with energy and accessibility, which is appropriate for a play about the transformative power of play-acting. He’s found humor in places both expected (Michael Gill’s Guildenstern and Regan McLellan’s Rosencrantz) and unexpected (Steve Hendrickson’s Polonius, not a trivial fool but wittily self-aware). And while the expert pacing makes it feel less than its three hours, Width has edited surgically, sparing often-axed lines from the Player King and “Gravedigger 1″ (the wonderful Johnny Lee Davenport).” ~ Directing, Hamlet, Orlando Weekly

“The melancholy that runs through a play William Shakespeare wrote in the winter of his career soon turns to jubilation at the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival’s Goldman Theater, where director Richard Width’s production of The Winter’s Tale deserves to win legions of converts to this remarkable play. What was cold and heartless turns warm and even wondrous in this story about a man who loses his faith and the women who show him how to find it. Here the festival treads lightly over the fragile balance between tragedy and comedy, despair and exultation. By play’s end you feel you’ve really lived… With redemption comes the recognition of life as it really is; that’s this production’s great glory. Put the two together, and you have magic.” ~ Directing, The Winter’s Tale, Orlando Sentinel

“OSF isn’t waiting for a “home” to continue on its mission to serve quality theater. To that end, much energy flowed this year through the festival’s Training Wing, following the addition a year ago of Richard Width as education director. (That brings the full-time staff to five.) Those lucky enough to see the held-over fall comedy, “The Compleat Works of Willm Shakspr (Abridged),” have a working picture of Width’s classroom potential; he played the surfer-dudish blond with an obsession for wigs and a queasy stomach in the comedy that condensed 37 Shakespeare plays into two hours of witty vignettes. Passion explodes from Width, who, like Helsinger, is a hands-on actor, teacher and director. Teaching the unreachable via Shakespeare is one of his specialties. There’s a personal vengeance in the way he approaches his demanding schedule of performances and teaching assignments. He certainly believes in his message. “The beauty of Shakespeare is that there is not one human experience that Shakespeare does not address in his work. He’s full of role models, full of problem-solving — from a very human perspective,” says Width. The Training Wing includes several school-age programs, and there are acting classes for both professionals and beginners. In addition, there’s the “Unplugged” play-reading series staged at Sak Theater. Most of these programs are free to the public, so the not-for-profit’s fund-raising wheels are always turning. (OSF taps into United Arts, as well as local and state grants, corporate and individual sponsorships, and box-office gains.) But OSF knows that the money spent on education is a long-term investment in its future audience. Just one of the projects that benefits from the festival’s high-minded spending is The Young Company. This past summer, Width directed two dozen students from Orange County middle and high schools in an six-week program that produced a respectable production of “Hamlet.” With no fear and lots of fun, Width decodes Shakespeare for his students, integrating many language-arts disciplines into his Shakespeare/self-explorations. “The program isn’t about the product,” says Width. “It’s about the process” — one that leaves his students with incalculable leaps in self-understanding, self-esteem and, not coincidentally, hooked on Shakespeare.” ~ Arts Education, Orlando Weekly

“Richard Width is over-the-top funny as Thurio.” ~ Acting, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Orlando Sentinel

“Under Width’s direction, Orlando Theatre Project gets at the play’s stark truth — two people, no frills. The tiny stage at Winter Park Playhouse, usually the site for upbeat musicals, has never looked so raw.” ~ Directing, Blackbird, Orlando Sentinel

“Shakespeare’s Othello haunts… Richard Width’s direction is smooth and quick, making use of the entire auditorium as well as making the evening fly by without notice.” Directing, Othello, Central Florida Today

“Richard Width’s charm projects into his George… I haven’t seen this in ages: a holiday show that tastes fresh, and doesn’t leave that synthetic sweetener aftertaste.” ~ Acting, It’s A Wonderful Life: A 1940’s Radio Play

“Richard Width makes a graceful Macduff, the play’s eventual hero.” ~ Acting, Macbeth, Orlando Sentinel

“First Flight Theatre Company’s Mina, adapted from Stoker’s novel by Richard Width and performed entirely by Hacker, retains more fidelity to the original text than almost any stage or screen adaptation that we are aware of – and is not one whit less entertaining or enthralling for it… Width’s canny condensation of Stoker’s novel, which uses a good deal of its language, makes choices that orient the audience with Mina’s point of view, and it provides a very accurate representation of Mina’s story specifically, where the novel eventually becomes dominated by the men who fight the fight and tell the story, despite all of the narratives being presented as consisting of manuscript notes authored by a number of characters and organized by Mina.” ~ Playwriting, Mina, NYC Frigid Festival