PETE Ensemble’s R3, directed by Gisela Cardenas, is a tour de force of costuming and condensation. The play runs and hour and forty-five minutes: the costumes are black, trim, tight-fitting, slightly adorned or stripped for the second role for each performer; the props are minimal, focused on shape, and also do double duty as the scene demands.
R3 is also a tour de force of dance. The choreography is a study in grand and subtle aggression, threat, incitement, calculated retreat and redoubled advance.
But the heart of R3, the reason to see it, is Jacob Coleman’s performance as Richard – an astonishingly kinetic and athletic presentation of twisted spine, dog-loping, monkey-gripping, chest-thrusting, bowing, cringing, curling, twisting – which instantly conveys the villainy at the heart of the plot.
This is PETE’s most accomplished piece to date. On this evidence, PETE is a company to be able, confidently, to expect great things from.
R3 is also a tour de force of dance. The choreography is a study in grand and subtle aggression, threat, incitement, calculated retreat and redoubled advance.
But the heart of R3, the reason to see it, is Jacob Coleman’s performance as Richard – an astonishingly kinetic and athletic presentation of twisted spine, dog-loping, monkey-gripping, chest-thrusting, bowing, cringing, curling, twisting – which instantly conveys the villainy at the heart of the plot.
This is PETE’s most accomplished piece to date. On this evidence, PETE is a company to be able, confidently, to expect great things from.
