The New Murrey and Blue blog

Richard III’s looks and voice….

Well, after Sunday’s premiere at the York Theatre Royal of the new avatar re-creation of Richard III and his voice, using actual words he used when elevating his son Edward to being Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, yesterday’s media was full of articles about it, most with a brief 1 minute 30 second video that includes snippets and brief comments from the theatre audience.

I hope you’ll forgive me for again drawing attention to another link – https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14093233/king-richard-III-voice-accent-revealed-death.html. If you visit it you’ll hear/see almost four minutes of Richard’s voice and avatar.

I certainly like the man I see and hear. He’s so very proud of his son. Yet only too soon afterward he was to be betrayed and murdered on the field at Bosworth, by which time his son and his wife had passed away. He was the only one left of his little family. One can scarcely bear to imagine how empty and bereft he felt as he embarked on that last fateful charge against his unworthy enemy. He so very nearly triumphed, and would have done had there not been traitors at his side who were more prepared to kill him than support him.

Fate can be so very cruel. And to think that he was replaced by a miserable, money-grubbing, malign , mud-creating maggot like the totally undeserving Henry Tudor! 😡

But, the unhappy facts of Bosworth and Richard’s death aside, all those behind the recreation of his voice and avatar are to be congratulated on their dedication to a project that took years to bring to fruition. And a special mention for the actor Thomas Dennis, who provided Richard’s voice. His bone structure does indeed resemble the king’s, which makes it all the more likely he will sound like the king too. Thomas does it all perfectly, and with immense feeling. Take an accolade!

Do I have any quibbles? Well, a tiny one, and it’s nit-picking really. I just feel Richard’s face was slightly thinner than the avatar. A little more like Thomas Dennis in the photograph below.

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  1. Anne Ayres Avatar
    Anne Ayres

    Looks a bit young and fleshier in the face than a man of thirty one. More like a 17 year-old! The voice tones are pleasant and the research behind medieval pronunciation is fascinating.

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    1. viscountessw Avatar
      viscountessw

      Yes, I agree, but remember once reading, when the original facial image was created, that although you can reproduce the looks, what you can’t do is include the “ravages” of life. So if, for instance, he was prone to headaches and frowned a lot because of the pain, that wouldn’t show from his skull. But yes, he’s a little chubby for me too. I definitely always “see” him as thin-faced. Thin-bodied too, come to that.

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  2. tanya-salpe Avatar
    tanya-salpe

    Sorry, offtop : where tag’s? 😦

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  3. jay Avatar
    jay

    for me , the avatar was quite off putting. too young and not ‘rugged’ enough. people lived ‘outdoor lives’ – hunting, travelling, campaigning – and all those winters in north yorkshire – i doubt richard would have had the complexion of someone who looks like they have regular ‘spa days’ just my h.o.

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  4. M.E. Lawrence Avatar
    M.E. Lawrence

    I watched the York conference on Zoom (awakening at 4:00 in the morning, PST, to do so). Fine event, especially David Crystal’s talk about the progress of medieval English, as well as Richard’s speech. But that avatar, like most avatars, is kind of…strange, and I don’t see the point of it.

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  5. Seven great treasures found at construction sites….guess who features….? – murreyandblue

    […] we are even able to hear and see an avatar of him “speaking” his known words. (https://murreyandblue.org/2024/11/19/richard-iiis-looks-and-voice/) Well, there’s bound to be some doubt about the avatar’s accuracy, but there’s also an awful […]

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