‘Richard III’ takes a page from Elizabethan playbook

Back in William Shakespeare’s day, actors often performed in their own street clothes, figuring out on their own where to stand and learning their craft on the job in front of audiences.

The Nelson County Shakespeare Festival, which Mary Coy calls “a real experiment” in Elizabethan acting practices, is bringing that same do-it-yourself energy to its production of “Richard III,” which can be seen tonight through Feb. 21 at the Hamner Theater.

The actors have been rehearsing at the Hamner under the guidance of “actor-manager” Coy, who plays the title role. That means she’s on stage for most of the piece, which offers a share of guidance to a cast made up of stage veterans and adventurous newcomers who are learning from their castmates much as apprentices would.

“No director. I was the actor-manager. I was [Richard] Burbage,” Coy said, referring to Shakespeare’s respected lead actor. “That’s why I picked ‘Richard III.’ It’s the second-largest role after Hamlet.”

Coy earned her MFA at Mary Baldwin College in 2006, interning and then working at the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse along the way. But her interest in Shakespeare goes way back — she has taught Shakespeare to sixth-graders at Nelson Middle School for eight years and drama to North Branch School students for even longer.

She and Betty Tabony wrote a Standards of Learning-friendly curriculum for teaching Shakespeare, and Nelson students continue to use it. This year, they’re using it to study “Macbeth.”

In “Richard III,” Philip Lawton, Michael Dowell and Coy play the royal York brothers, Edward, Clarence and Richard. Jim Johnston, Jonas Collins and John Holdren play their advisors.

Boomie Pedersen, the Hamner’s co-artistic director, plays Queen Elizabeth, with Tabony, DJ and Dakota Crocker, Noah Hughey-Commers and Cody Harlow portraying her family. Also in the cast are Mary Haines-Johnson, Koda Kerl, Jack Luecke, Audrey Wood, Margaret Clair, Mariflo Stevens and Ginny Weckstein.

There’s a prompter, but no director. Coy devoted one early rehearsal to blocking the show and spent another tweaking the blocking, and then each subsequent rehearsal has been spent running through the play. It’s a sink-or-swim technique that hasn’t had any casualties.

Playing by Elizabethan rules, there’s more pressure on individual actors to make sure they’ve prepared. No one’s around to tell them to stand here, move there, tuck in a shirt or speak up.

“They all had to come to the first rehearsal with their lines memorized, and not everybody did,” Coy said.

“Every time we run through it, it has been hard not to tell them, ‘This is what you should be doing.’ But it’s working. The beginning actors are just getting better and better and more in tune with the story.”

The production seems to be tapping into a sense of resourcefulness and thrift that would have made Shakespeare’s stars proud. The Hamner opened its doors to house rehearsals and performances. Instead of spending money on frilly costumes, the actors are sticking with their own contemporary apparel, with an occasional flourish to help audiences tell characters apart, such as clerical garb loaned by Coy’s father, an Episcopal priest.

And in another nod to the way Shakespeare’s troupes would have performed, Saturday evening’s show has an interesting plan for thanking its benefactors.

In the large auditorium space of the Rockfish Valley Community Center, a former school that houses the Hamner Theater and many other groups and programs, the performers will present the play for “nobles” who pay a benefit price of $75 to sit on stage and dine.

As groundlings did in Shakespeare’s day, regular folks can sit offstage and watch — only they’ll pay $5, won’t get in on the lecture-discussion time and only get to smell the curried carrot soup, smoked salmon, risotto and tiramisu served to the nobles.

Performances will continue through Feb. 21.

All shows other than Saturday’s benefit are $10, and reservations may be made online at http://www.thehamnertheater.com or by phone at 361-1999.