Art Imitates Life, as a Villain Haunts a Stateside Parking Lot The evil all but oozes from Alessandro Colla, who, as Richard III, shuffles across the asphalt in this year's second offering from Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. The king's body is damaged, of course. But, oh, his wicked mind: that's always working. After last year's news that the bones of the real Richard III had been found under a parking lot in Leicester, England, it seemed all but required that the troupe resurrect the tale at its blacktop stage on the Lower East Side. The show proves to be mostly successful, thanks largely to its lead. Mr. Colla is a powerhouse actor, particularly early on, when Richard's plots and inductions are laid into place with the help of his henchman, Buckingham (a dependable Arash Mokhtar). Mr. Colla speaks the speech smoothly, sometimes while smoking a cigarette. He's alternately elated and enraged, and more than a bit smug and hammy. It's a shrewd mixture. For intensity, he's matched only by Sheri Graubert's Queen Margaret. She's full of resentment, and Ms. Graubert conveys it with a sting. The first showdown between the two is fierce. Most of this production's excitements, like that scene, are in the first half. After Richard takes the throne, the tension wanes. That is partly inherent in the script, yet further trims are needed in the middle of this nearly two-and-a-half-hour, intermissionless play to tighten the pace. Conversely, Richard's oration to his army, a rousing and bitter section, has been unwisely excised here. Luckily, when Richmond (an inspired Shane Mitchell) appears near the end, the pressure rises again. The play, directed by Hamilton Clancy (who at a recent performance stepped in as Hastings to replace an ill actor; he acted ably, with nary a look at the script he held) is best at the beginning and the conclusion, when this oily and scheming villain is clawing his way to the top, and then is unable to stop his fated fall.