To continue from our recent media retrospective, here is another example that those who work with Shakespeare’s work are well aware of the difference between play and reality.  Don Crane is a professional actor and teaching artist with The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. and is at present directing a production of Richard III at a school, Westfield High.  This is what he had to say about the play and the man:

It’s a story of good triumphing over evil, but also a propaganda piece Shakespeare wrote for the Tudors. The character of Richard III is depicted as a spider — deformed, disgusting and rotten from within and without. But of course, it’s all a lie.

We can but hope that the audience of this production as of all others that the fascinating character of the play is “all a lie”!

Source:

Bonnie Hobbs, ‘Westfield Presents ‘Richard III’ – Not your father’s Shakespeare’, Centre View (10 November 2011).  URL:  http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=355709&paper=62&cat=104 Date accessed:  11 Nov 2011

Tags: Richard III, Shakespeare