The play’s the thing

What is the truth behind Shakespeare’s Richard II and Richard III….?

Sep 1, 2023

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, genealogy, Science, The play’s the thing

childlessness, Elizabeth I, kyphosis, Perspective Magazine, Pontefract Castle, propaganda, Richard II, Richard III, Robert Cecil, Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, satire, scoliosis, sedition, Shakespeare, succession

Here’s an interesting take on Shakespeare‘s Richard II. Please note, NOT Richard III. There is a myth that this play was written to flatter the Tudor queen Elizabeth, and yet one scene came so close to the bone, so to speak, that she had it excised from every performance! Amused she was not. The scene…
Catherine Parr was violent with Henry VIII….?

Aug 30, 2023

anniversaries, films, The play’s the thing

Henry VIII, Jude Law, Katherine Parr, prosthetics, Richard III, The Lost King, violence

According to this article skinny Jude Law is to play Fat Henry as he was at the time of his marriage to Catherine Parr. The makeup department is sure going to be working overtime+!!! I’m going to spend my time examining his closeups for where the prosthetics end and Jude himself begins. But hey, rewriting…
Ten facts gleaned from Richard’s skeleton….

Aug 23, 2023

archaeology, battles, Science, The play’s the thing

“hunchback”, “Tudor” propaganda, “withered arm”, age, Battle of Bosworth, Bow Bridge, diet, facial reconstruction, fish, height, identification, John Speed, Leicester Greyfriars, missing feet, perimortem wounds, scoliosis, Shakespeare, skull, Turi King, wine, woodlands

I wondered what was coming when I turned to this article but it’s actually quite sensible, even if some of the comments beggar belief. (Know of a woodland somewhere in the UK? Because some people think we no longer have any! Or think it’s clever and snide to pretend we don’t.) The ten facts…
A film review that praises the real Richard III….

Aug 3, 2023

anniversaries, films, sources, The play’s the thing

anti-Stratfordianism, Edward Earl of Oxford, film reviews, Larchmont Chronicle. Tony Melody, More, Richard III Society, Shakespeare, The Lost King

There have been a lot (and I mean a LOT) of reviews of The Lost King, and since its release in the US they have redoubled. There’s a dearth of poor reviews, and rightly so. This link is to a very favourable one and I have picked it out because of what it says about…
I hope this book is more accurate than the blurb

Jul 24, 2023

anniversaries, archaeology, battles, Book Reviews, buildings, Science, The play’s the thing

“Tudors”, Bamburgh Castle, children, Edgecote, First Battle of St. Albans, Fotheringhay, Henry VII, Leicester Greyfriars, Micklegate Bar, mtDNA evidence, Pen and Sword, Richard Duke of York, Richard III, satire, Shakespeare, skeletons, teeth, Tewkesbury, The Children of Richard III, Tower of London, Towton, Wakefield, Wars of the Roses, York

Perhaps this is just a matter of ambiguity rather than inaccuracy and that the book itself is clearer, however the jacket information really isn’t promising. Bamburg (sic), being by the east coast, had nothing to do with Tudors, real or imagined, until after Henry VII‘s accession, so it definitely wasn’t a “stronghold” of theirs during…
The story of The Chertsey Curfew….

Jul 13, 2023

buildings, culture, law, religion, The play’s the thing

Albert Smith, Blanche Heriot, Chertsey, churches, Edward IV, mythology, Nicholas Audley, planned executions, plays, statues, Surrey, The Chertsey Curfew, The Surrey Theatre

We all love a heroine…even if her exerts are in favour of her Lancastrian lover! 😲 The story of Blanche Heriot of Chertsey in Surrey is set in 1471, just after Edward IV has won back his throne. The lover in question, one Nicholas Audley, fought on the wrong side, was captured and sentenced…
Thomas of Woodstock was an unpleasant, supposedly pious bully….

May 30, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, religion, The play’s the thing

Duke of Sussex, Edmund of Langley, Edward III, Edward of Woodstock, Eleanor de Bohun, Henry IV, John of Gaunt, Lionel of Antwerp, Lords Apellant, Mary de Bohun, Peasants’ Revolt, Pontefract Castle, Radcot Bridge, rats, Richard II, succession, Thomas of woodstock, William Shakespeare

This article Thomas of Woodstock and Shakespeare’s Twisted History | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net) begins as follows:- “….William Shakespeare wrote ten history plays. Of these, one of the most famous is Richard II . The play Richard II , written around 1595, is based on the rule of King Richard II (reign 1377-1399), but one of the main characters in…
Shakespeare goes North….?

May 28, 2023

anniversaries, Book Reviews, The play’s the thing

Dennis McCarthy, Sir Thomas North, William Shakespeare

Using software that detects plagiarism in phrases etc, Dennis McCarthy has concluded that Shakespeare adapted earlier plays by “the scholar knight” Sir Thomas North. He sets his reasoning out in a new book entitled simply Thomas North, with the subtitle The Original Author of Shakespeare’s Plays. Is this true? Well, according to this review…
Another Richard III musical?

May 23, 2023

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, Music Reviews, The play’s the thing

Anthony Newley, Exhumation, Joan Collins, Leicester, Leicester cathedral, Leicester Greyfriars, Mail on Sunday, musicals, reburial, Richard III, Tara Newley

This one (Digging up Dick) was being written by the late Anthony Newley and is being resumed by Tara, his daughter with Joan Collins. As you will have observed, a lot has happened since Newley’s death in 1999, not least finding Richard’s real grave and reburying him.
MEDIEVAL POSY RINGS – GIVEN WITH LOVE…

May 10, 2023

anniversaries, archaeology, art, buildings, The play’s the thing

Ashmolean Museum, British Museum, Catherine de Roet, Dorset, engraving, gifts, gold, Hamlet, Joan Hanham, John of Gaunt, metal detecting, Museum of London, posy rings, romance, Thomas Brook, Victoria and Albert Museum

Reblogged from MEDIEVAL POSY RINGS – GIVEN WITH LOVE… ‘Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?’ ‘Tis brief, my lord’ * This beauty is reputed to have been given by John of Gaunt (1340-1399) to his mistress and subsequent third wife, Katheryn Swinford (1350-1403). The inscription reads ‘alas for fayte’ which was probably…