For Australians surely there can be no better person that John Bell to listen to about William Shakespeare.  During his childhood in Maitland he was fortunate to have Shakespeare-loving teachers who took classes to see the Olivier Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III, as well as plays performed by visiting companies (not always brilliant).   One teacher told his parents that John’s destiny was inevitable:  to become an actor.

And at Sydney University he made his first appearance in 1959 as Coriolanus in a production by Ken Horler with whom, ten years later, he was to found the Nimrod Theatre.  In the interim he had spent five years with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK.

As he left to return to Australia he admits he wondered if he was doing the right thing.  Now he recognises it is the best decision he ever made.  He has acted and directed Shakespeare for all the major theatre companies in Australia, and in 1990 he founded the Bell Shakespeare Company without which our theatre world would be a lesser place.

He gave a lively and wonderfully informed talk about his book On Shakespeare* on 11 October 2011 at one of North Sydney Library’s author presentations held in conjunction with The Constant Reader bookshop.  Naturally there was a full house, standing room only eventually, but who noticed as we listened to descriptions of Stratford on Avon and seeing the places where Shakespeare was born and died; of learning of the challenge of performing at the new Globe theatre, a replica of the original, where the vertical audience tiers mean goodbye to a subtle aside and character introspection.  Full on projection to the highest level …

The talk was kept to a reasonable length in order to have time for questions – and the first of these (from someone I could barely see across the crowded room) was about Richard III. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Books, Richard III, Shakespeare

Book Review:  The Lady of the Rivers

Philippa Gregory, The Lady of the Rivers, Simon & Schuster.  ISBN HB 978-1-84737-59-2.

This is the third novel in The Cousins’ War series, examining the woman who became the mother of Elizabeth Woodville.  Her importance became evident to the author as she wrote The White Queen, and as we have seen in her previous books, Gregory can focus on the women in history who are frequently placed several places in the rear while men take centre stage, but whose impact on history in enormous.

The story of the young Princess Jacquetta of Luxembourg opens with her recognition of the skills inherited by some of the women in her family thanks to their descent from the water goddess, Melusine.  A few years later she marries John, the great Duke of Bedford, who admits her to his secret world of alchemy and learning and, in England, she soon realises the difficulties she will have to face: not just a new language to learn, but to meet a young, easily led king, his ambitious relatives and confront the jealousy of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester.  And it is the witchcraft trial, hideous deaths of accomplices and incarceration of Eleanor that is a warning of what Jacquetta herself might have to face if she cannot hide her own gifts. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Books, Elizabeth Woodville, Wars of the Roses

The good news this year was that the October 2nd actually fell on a Sunday, our preferred day for our Branch social events.  However what wasn’t such good news was the definitely non-celebratory weather.  The heavens opened and the rain, that would be generally welcomed in our wide brown land, meant that the planned barbecue was not to be.

However this did not deter the small group of New South Wales members who braved early starts to catch the train and a damp misty drive to the Southern Highlands, then enjoyed morning tea with the Ann and David before they gathered at Helen and Allan’s lovely home at Bundanoon.  Aided and abetted by Denise who, with Tony, had journeyed from Canberra, Helen had prepared a delicious lunch to spread before us.

As usual, the conversation was non-stop and entertaining, ranging from great books with accurate sources on the Middle Ages to discovering that some of us had loved the same titles in our childhood.  Helen and Denise had formed their own Richard III Society while still at school, being unaware of another one in the UK, Josephine Tey’s book being their inspiration.

Later in the afternoon there was another viewing of Helen and Denise’s wonderful presentation of “Richard III: the posthumous hunchback” before farewells were made.

Tags: NSW Branch

This was an all-important meeting, time to review the year gone by and to highlight plans for the year ahead. Judith, our Chairperson, welcomed us all, and regretted the absence of those who couldn’t make the meeting. She then gave a summary of our Ricardian year of 2010 – 2011: the many interesting talks that had been given, such Dorothea’s account of the “Blood and Roses” weekend at Oxford, Dr Penny Bishop’s talk on plagues and pestilences in the Middle Ages , Isolde Martyn on life in Medieval London and the always interesting and innovative Scrabble talks.

Several branch members had attended the biennial Australasian Convention in Melbourne, and Kevin, Julia, Helen and Denise had contributed presentations.

Judith thanked all the committee members for their hard work and contribution during the year, especially welcoming Judy who had joined us mid-year as Treasurer, easing Dorothea’s workload. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Church, NSW Branch

Julia and I were talking yesterday about Alice Chaucer, granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer and wife of John de la Pole, duke of Suffolk.  Complementing our discussion is today’s free biography of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.  You can find Rowena Archer’s biography of this fascinating woman at http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/1.html, but only during this week.  While you are there make sure that you sign up for the free ‘Lives of the Week’, many of which are relevant to our period of interest.

Illustration: Alice Chaucer’s effigy in Ewelme church (photograph by Dorothea Preis)

Tags: de la Pole

We are delighted to welcome a new member to our branch, Barbara Gaskell Denvil.

As I’ve just joined the Richard III Society, NSW Branch, I thought I should introduce myself.

I actually live in Victoria, but having received a strong recommendation from a friend to seek out the inestimable Dorothea Preis, I decided to do just that.

I’m an author, and I’ve recently published my first novel FAIR WEATHER (by BARBARA GASKELL DENVIL $2.99 Amazon Kindle and soon on smashwords.com for all other e.book devices) which is a fantasy set in medieval England around the early 1200s. There’s a fair chunk of historical content, but the basic plot is pure fantasy. It seems quite popular so far and has received some good reviews.

However, my main passion is later medieval history and the life and times of Richard III in particular, which I’ve been researching for years.  My next book which is due out within the month, starts on 22nd August 1485, and covers the first months of Henry VII’s reign. This is called SATIN CINNABAR and several members of the RIIISoc in the UK have been kind enough to give it a firm thumbs up.

I was born in England (near Gloucester, which seems apt) and I hold joint citizenship but have been living here in semi rural isolation for the past 15 years.  I spent the middle years of my life living on a yacht and sailing the Mediterranean, so probably it’s high time I settled down – though itchy feet still keep me restless and dreaming.

Now retired, I’m delighted to take up the love of my youth and once again start writing. When much younger I worked for Books and Bookmen as a critic and reviewer, and published numerous short stories and articles but all that seems centuries ago.  Now the flocks of parrots and the odd wallaby in the garden seems to add piquancy to the medieval intrigues which so inspire me.

I’m delighted to have finally joined the Society, and look forward to many further years of learning – and writing – about Good King Richard.

With the best of luck to all of you.

Cheers, Barbara

Please feel free to visit Barbara’s blog!

Tags: Books, NSW Branch, Ricardian Authors

Just a short reminder that this coming Saturday, 8 October 2011, the AGM of the NSW Branch will take place.  We meet as usual at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, 280 Pitt St, Sydney, at 14h00.

As it is the AGM, a new committee is to be elected.  Our branch has great plans for the future and we need new faces on the committee to achieve these.  We are organising our biennial NSW convention in Mittagong next May and will be hosting the Australasian Convention in 2013 – the year of the 530th anniversary of Richard and Anne’s coronation.  In order to make this an as memorable event as possible we need your assistance.  Please, consider in which way you will be able to help your branch.

If you have not yet done so, you will be able to bring your subscription renewal and payment to the AGM.  Remember, we have to forward our subscriptions to the UK Executive by 14 October 2011.  While the branch covers the banking charges for sending the bulk renewals to the UK, for any subscriptions and renewals received after 14 October, we have to ask you for an extra $20 to cover the cost of sending individual subscriptions.

However, our AGM will not just cover the necessary administrative matters, but will of course also feature an interesting talk.  Our Chairperson Judith will talk on Hildegard of Bingen,  It should be interesting to find out more about this multi-talented 12th century lady.

Tags: NSW Branch

The big problem for the coming weekend is to decide which party to attend.  There is the barbecue in honour of Richard III’s birthday in the Southern Highlands hosted by the NSW Branch of the Richard III Society.  However, if you can’t make this, you might consider the party at the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre.

The Bosworth party in honour of Richard’s 559th birthday will take place from 11h00 to 15h00 on Sunday 2 October 2011.  The highlight will be at 12h00, when King Richard III dressed in full battle armour will tour the courtyard with his ‘men at arms’.

David Sprason, Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities, said:

This is a great opportunity to celebrate what would have been Richard III’s 559th Birthday! The Battle of Bosworth was a defining moment in British history and had King Richard lived, the Country may have been on a completely different course. The celebrations at the Battlefield will take visitors back to medieval times and will be a great day out for the whole family.

More info:  ‘You are cordially invited to King Richard III’s Birthday Party!’, In Loughborough

Illustration:  © Andrew Jamieson, www.http://www.jamiesongallery.com

Tags: Bosworth, Richard III

Although, as a general rule, novels aren’t the ideal source for historical research, it is always heartening to find our particular branch of the Plantagenet family appearing in imaginative pages.  Happily, in this case, House of Echoes is by Barbara Erskine, who has a degree in medieval history, and her many novels have a commendable ring of authenticity.

In some of her books people of today are linked with characters and events in history and in this story (published by HarperCollins) the connection is with Edward IV (and Richard gets a mention).  Great reading for lazy afternoons, but the chilling mystery could make it a no-no for late-night reading.

Tags: Books, Edward IV