The play’s the thing
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Paul Darrow was an excellent actor, and often on our screens a few decades back. He died on 3rd June 2019 after a short illness, and I am sad he has gone. I don’t remember him playing a part in Dr Who as if he were Richard III, but I remember him particularly in…
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The boys in the Tower were drowned in champagne? And they were twins???? Quote: “…His [actor Ben Stevens] first role ever as the youthful characters Fleance and Young Duff in Macbeth, and later, as one of the twins drowned in champagne in Richard III, set Stevens on the path to a much-loved career…” My,…
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Well, it seems that women playing the Bard’s Richard III go back further than I realized. It’s not a new thing, by any means. This article is about Elizabeth Winstanley, who died in December 1864 at the age of 64. She originated in Wigan, Lancs, and her family emigrated to Sydney in 1833. An interest…
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I don’t know what your reaction would be to reading the following, but my Ricardian heart plummeted:- “….There have been many versions of Shakespeare’s Richard III over the years. But King Richard and His Women may be the first to focus on the title character and his relationships with the women in his life….” Firstly…
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Well, here is an article that manages to blend my two favourite kings, Richards II and III, although overwhelmingly Richard II. It concerns actor Mark Burghagen (BBC, Opera North, York Mystery Plays), who has produced a short film based around Richard’s plight after being usurped by his first cousin, Henry IV. Richard is pictured in…
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I never really know quite what to say when it comes to the private life of Edward II. I know he is generally regarded as being homosexual, but what we consider to be that now may not be quite the same as what was believed in the late 13th – early 14th century. Edward has…
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On 16th September 1398, at Gosford Green near Coventry, there was a tournament involving a trial by combat between Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford and Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. Almost the entire nobility of England attended this event, including the king, Richard II, who had ordered the trial to settle a dispute (concerning…
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We all know the amazing reconstruction of the head of Richard III, and the confirmation it gave of how he really had looked. Forget Shakespeare’s Richard III, the real man had been young, good-looking and altogether normal, except for scoliosis that affected his spine. But when he was dressed, it wouldn’t have shown, especially in…
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Discovering one’s illustrious ancestors appears to be quite the thing these days, and now we have someone who is descended from the man responsible for publishing Shakespeare’s First Folio. “….A theatre producer who has brought the Elizabethan era to York City Centre and Blenheim Palace has discovered that he is related to the man who…
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We’re all accustomed to seeing dignitaries, film stars and so on walking along a red carpet, and know it’s a sign of great respect, courtesy or just plain flattery. According to Wikipedia :- “The earliest known reference to walking a red carpet in literature is in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus, written in 458…
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