Unconfined
A solo performance based on true events
Debuted NYC Off-Broadway Dec 6-22, 2023
During 18 years on Death Row, a prisoner becomes an outstanding artist and a compassionate Buddhist adept.
UNCONFINED is about the impact his remarkable transformation has on three very different people who befriend him: Eleanor, an English painter; Barbara, an American academic; and Benny, a streetwise fellow prisoner. In her multi-faceted portrayals of these characters, Liz Richardson captures the unforeseen in their life-changing stories.
It's riveting to watch this accomplished and nuanced actor shifting skilfully between characters, playing three people telling the story of a fourth they all share a relationship with. So great. Sparse but rich, simple but multi-dimensional. A very profound theatre experience.... delicious, beautifully written and masterfully performed piece.
Actress (This Hour Has 22 Minutes),Comedian, Author
Going On
A solo play written and performed by Richardson, with dramaturgy by Stuart Cox.
Premiered in San Miguel de Allende and Tepoztlan, Mexico in 2012. It later was presented in Halifax, Vancouver and Upstate NY and as a film for the Atlantic Film Festival in 2015.
The play explores two vastly different journeys in Ms. Richardson’s life. An early experience as a young actress touring the US with Peter O’Toole is beautifully interwoven with a glimpse into a three-year Buddhist retreat in Nova Scotia.
She portrays a dozen characters- including Peter O’Toole, her own mother and many characters from “Uncle Vanya and Present Laughter”, the plays on tour. These characters echo the frustrations and inspirations of the long retreat and her poignant and humorous relationship with her mother.
Art and life interchange, collide and are reconciled. Elizabeth fills the stage with her ups and downs, successes and failures, to share with the audience insights into the paradoxical life of a Buddhist actress.
Some actors you love from the start. You will them to shine…. to stand in the light and be somebody intriguing…. which is just what actor/writer Elizabeth Richardson does in performing her imaginative and witty play, “Going On” … she is a powerful performer with a wonderful story to tell.