Directing William Shakespeare's Richard III

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Directing William Shakespeare's Richard III

Dear Mr Akter,

I am writing to congratulate you upon being chosen to play the part of

Richard in our forthcoming production of Richard III. This letter is a

guide for you for how I would like the part of Richard to be acted.

This shall be primarily based upon two key scenes in the play, which

are Act 1 Scene I (opening scene) and Act 5 Scene VII (eve of battle

scene). This guide covers 3 main aspects of playing the part of

Richard. These are: Your interaction with other characters, your

interpretation and delivery of speech within the play and your

physical representation of Richard.

The reason why these two scenes have been concentrated on is because

they occur at key moments within the play and at opposite ends as

well. Not only do they appear at opposite ends of the play but they

also occur when Richards’s confidence is at opposite ends of the

emotional spectrum. This enables us to see Richard from multiple

perspectives and it shows us his multi-faceted mental and emotional

states.

As I am sure you are aware, Richard is portrayed as an Evil and

conscience free king as well as being physically deformed. Although

elements of this are based upon the truth, it is appreciated that

Shakespeare made many of these descriptions up. Due to limited other

historical reference this is how Richard is portrayed nowadays.

Shakespeare’s reasons for, perhaps, making up these facts are to

please the Queen at his time, who was Queen Elizabeth I. This would

please her because it was her grandfather, Henry Tudor (later Henry

VII (Richmond in the play)), who became King after Richard III was

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...t from the audience partly

due to his irregularities and for his determination. Humorous

instances will enable this to be possible and this will provide

entertainment outside of the script.

To conclude, it is imperative that Richards’s confidence and

outrageousness of the earlier Acts is shown to the same excess as his

neurotic behaviour and paranoia of the last scenes. His character

interaction must change as well and this is due to a change in the

tonal delivery of your lines. Simply, I appreciate how hard

Shakespearian plays are to understand from and audience perspective

and it is your job to make it simpler for them as well as keeping it

entertaining.

Thank You for Your Time

Artistic Director

Bibliography: Richard III – William Shakespeare

Notes on Richard III – Rebecca Warren

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