Robert O’Hara on 'Great Performances' 'Richard III' & Shakespeare Meeting Us Where We Are

Great Performances celebrates 50 years on PBS in 2023, and as part of the anthology series' 50th anniversary, it's leading off with another anniversary special -- Shakespeare in the Park's Richard III. The Joseph Papp-conceived free-for-all production celebrated 60 years since opening its signature arena in 2022 with the classic Shakespeare history play, one that viewers never seem to tire of, no matter how many times it's produced. As Tony-winning director Robert O'Hara (Slave Play), who helmed the production, says, "I think we like a good villain, and we like that sort of guy to be charismatic."

"We want someone to smile and make us feel comfortable even when they lie to us." O'Hara points out that, like many politicians, Richard is pretty upfront about his aims. "Richard says, at the very beginning, since I can't prove to be a lover, I'll play a villain. If you want a villain, I'll play a villain. This is what I'm going to do; I'm going to go woo this woman, I just killed her father-in-law and her husband, and I'm gonna have her."

As he notes, that's how it's always been in the U.S. "We have this American mythology, that somehow we were the home of the brave land of the free, and we all know that's not true. It was slavery. It was genocide. It was brutality. It was women being treated like [expletive]," he says. "Our forefathers owned slaves, but we have this love of the American mythology."