Production Notes compiled for this production:

Multiple murders, serial seductions and a serious shortage of strawberries... Shakespeare's favorite villain-king is back in town ... and looking for his horse.

 The ActorsNet of Bucks County presents Shakespeare’s “Richard III”.

SYNOPSIS

THERE WERE THREE KINGS OF ENGLAND NAMED RICHARD.  One was a butcher who killed hundreds in one day; one was an irresolute tyrant who was deposed by his own men. The last had the throne for just a few years, but traded it at his death for another: He is the monarch of villains, the most enduring evildoer in Western literature, and perhaps the best known.

As Shakespeare envisioned it, upon the death of King Henry VI, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, believes himself to be the most qualified to rule.  However, his brother, Edward, is first in succession and is, therefore, crowned King Edward IV.  Richard devises a brutal stratagem to ascend the English throne.  He callously executes family, friends, and subjects.  By 1483 the sceptre, at last, is his. But in 1485, the Earl of Richmond at the bloody battle of Bosworth Field confronts Richard.  Richmond, a distant cousin from another branch of the family, kills Richard and assumes the throne. 

Richard was the last British monarch to take to the field in battle – for now obvious reasons.  Richmond was crowned King Henry VII and married Princess Elizabeth, Richard's niece and daughter of the late King Edward IV.   Together, Henry and Elizabeth founded the Tudor dynasty of English monarchs.

In the first scene of the play, Richard announces in a soliloquy his plan to be king.  With his elder brother, King Edward IV, dying, Richard hires two murderers to kill his other brother George, Duke of Clarence – an obstacle he must o`erleap on his way to the crown.  When the king dies, Richard becomes "Lord Protector" of the new heirs, the king's young sons.   Anxious to "protect" his own interests, Uncle Richard imprisons them in the tower.

Aided by the Duke of Buckingham, a powerful political ally, Richard executes the family of the late king's wife, Queen Elizabeth, who naturally would prefer to see her son on the throne.  To further discredit his brother, Richard circulates rumors that the previous king and his sons are illegitimate – Edward by parental indiscretion, and his children because of his failure to fulfill his oath to marry two previous fiances, thus rendering his marriage to Elizabeth Woodeville invalid.  (At that time being betrothed carried all the responsibility and commitment of marriage itself.)   To increase public support for his own claim to the crown, Richard enacts shows of humility, devotion, kindness, and other virtues which recommend him to the citizenry, and especially to the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London.

Finally, having staged the offer himself, Richard accepts the "golden yoke of sovereignty."   Unjustifiably convinced that his position is threatened, he "terminates" the princes in the tower, poisons his wife, Lady Anne, and arranges to marry Princess Elizabeth, daughter of the former king, Edward IV.  Even Buckingham, without whom he would not have secured the crown, is executed, so paranoid has Richard become.

Eventually, Richard's real enemies combine forces to overthrow him.  Thus, despite a torrent of plots, a web of intrigue, and a long and infamous trail of blood, his reign is over after only two years.

STAGE HISTORY

In the early 1590's, William Shakespeare wrote “The Tragedy of King Richard the Third,” his first blockbuster hit.  Chroniclers Edward Hall, Raphael Holinshed, and Sir Thomas More, Shakespeare's presumed sources, deliberately distorted their accounts of Richard so as to augment public empathy and support for the reigning Tudor monarchs.  Shakespeare, blending fact, fiction, and rumor, molded his Richard III into an exciting political figure.   The play has had a long popularity beginning with the first actor to perform the role for Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, and the role has been a favorite among actors up to the present day.

In America, “Richard III” from the eighteenth century onward has been one of the most popular of Shakespeare’s plays.  A host of Richards hissed their way into the consciousness of early American theaters and improvised playhouses from New York to the most distant outposts of the new country.  “Richard III” was a favorite play on the showboats on the Mississippi and in the repertory companies that played in barns and halls on the frontier long before the railroads got there.  In 1767, a performance of “Richard III” was chosen as the means of entertaining a delegation of Cherokee Indian chiefs on a diplomatic mission on New York.  A New York newspaper reported that the Indians regarded the play with “seriousness and attention,” and perhaps with some wonderment at this revelation of the white man’s bloodthirsty iniquity.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Richard's reputation, through reasons of politics and envy, has been distorted through the ages.  Most historians agree that Richard was cultured and intelligent, with a proven ability to govern.  They concur that his deformity has been greatly exaggerated, and describe him as attractive but frail.  The incidents in Shakespeare's play are based on historical fact; however, there is considerable debate as to whether Richard was indeed responsible for the murder of the princes in the tower, or the death of Lady Anne.

Shakespeare's audience knew the story of Richard III.  The Wars of the Roses (1453-1497) between the Yorkists, whose badge was the white rose, and the Lancasters, traditionally identified by the red rose, resulted in some the most brutal battles in English history.

This split in the royal family occurred in the fourteenth century with the sons of King Edward III, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Edmund Langley, Duke of York.  Marriages and intermarriages arranged among their descendants erupted in war as relatives killed and imprisoned one another in dispute over the crown.

The civil war in “Richard III” was initiated by Richard's father, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, against King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster.  King Henry VI, married to Margaret of Anjou, entrusted his administration to inept personal friends.  Richard of York sought to alleviate the ensuing problems.  Moreover, he could lay stronger claim to the crown than the reigning king.  A series of battles followed.  Richard of York was, in fact, placed in power in 1454 and 1455-1456, due to Henry VI's bouts of insanity, and it was decreed that the succession was to pass down to Richard’s line, not Henry’s.  Queen Margaret, determined that her son succeed his father, vehemently opposed the Duke.  He was killed by her army at Wakefield in 1460.  Duke Richard’s son, Edward IV, assisted by Richard of Gloucester, later Richard III, then took up the dispute.  Edward IV's victory at Tewkesbury at last secured the crown for the House of York.

The marriage of the Earl of Richmond and Princess Elizabeth, announced at the end of Richard III, brings peace and unity once again to the Houses of Lancaster and York.

DRAMATURGICAL NOTES

THEATRICAL RICHARD: HERO, VILLAIN, AND IRONIC COMEDIAN

Like the historical Richard, Shakespeare's Richard is also legendary. It has been a coveted role for actors through the centuries. The theatrical Richard plainly states that he is "misshapen" and "determined to prove a villain."  Richard’s moral and physical deformity is counter-balanced by the quick wit and charm with which Shakespeare endows him.  He is both tenacious and contemptible in his determination to rule. The play emphasizes the political intrigue of Richard's exploits, and allows the drama's human and poetic qualities to develop naturally.

“Richard III”, like “Hamlet”, requires judicious cutting for presentation on the modern stage.  For one thing, it is much too long for an evening’s performance.  We have attempted to streamline the action our production to produce a “thriller-like” atmosphere, rather than a “pageant-like” historical presentation.  By cutting almost 25% of Shakespeare’s text we have focused on the material context of Richard’s rise and inevitable fall.  Richard is shown to capitalize, skillfully, brutally and single-mindedly, on the political conflict that surrounds him.  At the same time, he is seen as a victim, psychologically and emotionally damaged by the flawed belief structures, expectations and codes of a society rising from civil confusion; flaws which his rise to power both exploited and exposed.  This is the end of the Middle Ages and we have not quite entered the Age of Reason or Renaissance.   It is a bloody time, the concept of “nationalism” or personal sacrifice for the sake on one’s country has not yet taken hold in the collective consciousness, self-interest lies at the heart of all alliances and no one is above helping his neighbor “across the River Styx” if there is something to be gained by it.  There are no “clean hands” – except perhaps for those of the Princes in the Tower.

So how is Richard a hero?  The impetus to such consideration is most of all the contradiction that lies in the figure of Richard. On the one hand, he is so repulsive a villain that his punishment in the end causes great satisfaction. On the other hand, though, one has to admit feeling some delight in the genius of his machinations and his absolute ignorance of all morals and authority.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Our production opens with a silent prologue extracted from a scene in Shakespeare’s “Henry VI Part 3” - Gloucester’s murder of the imprisoned King Henry VI - to set the stage.   This is followed by the coronation of Edward IV and the beginning of Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of King Richard III.”  We have divided the play into two sections.  The first, dealing with Richard’s bloody ascent to the throne is entitled “Richard of Gloucester” and includes the first three acts of Shakespeare’s play.  The second, called “King Richard”, follows intermission and chronicles Richard’s brief rule and overthrow on the field of Bosworth.

George Hartpence and director Cheryl Doyle collaborated in editing Shakespeare's text down into a 3 hour working version for use in the "Net's" production.  (See attached document below for the working script -with edits visible.)  About a dozen minor characters were deleted from the show, thereby decreasing confusion from too much double and triple casting - very important in a play where most of the major characters mentioned share the same surnames - four Richards, three Edwards, two Henrys, two Georges, two Elizabeths, etc.  About 25% of the original script was excised, but care was taken to see that only two very minor scenes were deleted in their entirety - the "woe to a land governed by a child" scene in Act 2 between three previously and subsequently unseen citizens, and the forgetable scrivener scene in Act 3.  Other scenes were edited and blended to improve the pace and understandability for an audience unfamiliar with the political state in England at the end of The War of the Roses.

The set design is stylized to reflect the decay brought about by the nearly fifty years of civil war know as The War of the Roses.  Our costume pieces were chosen to reflect the actual time period, but also to portray a more sinister, “Goth” appearance expressive of the dark nature of much of the action in the play.

Sources:

“Richard III”, The Folger Shakespeare Library General Reader’s Edition.  Edited by Louis B. Wright and Virginia A LaMar.

Press, 1960.

  

“King Richard III – Shakespeare at Stratford”.  Gillian Day. The Arden Shakespeare. 2002.

  

“King Richard III”. The Arden Shakespeare. Edited by Anthony Hammond. Metheun and Company. 1980

  

 

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SCRIPT:

To read the edited script follow the link below: 

 

/Documents/King Richard the Third - ActorsNet script March 2003.doc

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Poster:

 

	Poster graphic designed by Cheryl Doyle
	Final poster

 

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Production Photos:

                    

 

Part I	Richard of Gloucester
	Richard contemplates the crown of dead King Henry VI, before bringing it to the coronation of his brother Edward IV   Richard of Gloucester  (George Hartpence)		Richard woos the Lady Anne over the corpse of dead King Henry VI    Lady Anne - right (Carol Thompson)   Richard of Gloucester - left (George Hartpence)
	Richard causes the untimely demise of his brother, Edward IV, by bringing news that the royal cellars have been depleted of Bombay Sapphire   Edward IV (David Swartz)   Rivers - rear left - (Jim Perri)   Richard of Gloucester - right (George Hartpence)		Richard and Buckingham welcome the Princes to the Tower of London   Buckingham -up left (Dale Simon)   Edward V - right (Kevin Delaney)   Richard, Duke of York - down left (Steven Christy)   Richard of Gloucester - center (George Hartpence)
	Richard springs the trap for Hastings at the Council Meeting   Catesby - rear left (Philip Katz)   Richard of Gloucester - center (George Hartpence)   Earl of Oxford - right (Walter Smyth)   Bishop of Ely - rear right partially obscured (Marco Newton)		Buckingham tries to persuade Richard to accept the crown

 

Part II	Richard the King
	Richard alone in the throne room with Catesby   Catesby - right (Philip Katz)   King Richard III - left (George Hartpence)		Richard subborns Tyrrell to murder the princes in the Tower   Tyrrell - right (Jim Perri)   King Richard III - left (George Hartpence)
	A mother's curse - Richard's mother delivers her final "blessing" as he marches to confront the rebel armies gathering at Bosworth   Queen Mother - left   (Eileen Luscombe)   King Richard III - right  (George Hartpence)		Richard meets with Norfolk and Catesby to plan the next day's battle on Bosworth Field   Catesby - rear left (Philip Katz)   Norfolk - left center (Michael Pastorak)   King Richard III - right (George Hartpence)
	Richard persuades Edward IV's widow, Elizabeth, that she should encourage her daughter to marry her uncle (himself)   Elizabeth - left (Susan Fowler)   King Richard III (George Hartpence)		Bad dreams on Bosworth Field as Richard is haunted by those he has murdered   King Richard III  (George Hartpence)
	A horse, a horse, my kingdon for a horse!!!   King Richard III (George Hartpence)		The boar spear put to use on the battlefield   Richard's armor was constructed so that the spear could actually pass through a protective PVC insert from the rear through the front for the final impaling effect
	Stanley plucks the crown from the head of the dying tyrant   Lord Stanley - right (Steve Lobis)   King Richard III - left (George Hartpence)		The bloody tyrant is dead   King Richard III (George Hartpence)

 

Set Designs:

 

See Set Design page for images of RIII set

RIII

This page was last modified on Tuesday, August 14, 2007