Two professional touring companies have created two new plays exploring the history of King Richard III and are to perform them in Stratford.
Alarum Theatre and Tell Tale Presents will stage the double bill, Rewriting Richard, in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s studio The Other Place on Tuesday (20 September). The shows “readdress the traditional history of Richard III as popularised by Tudor historians”.
Helen McGregor will appear in Alarum Theatre’s Now is the Winter, written by Kate Saffin and directed by Susi Dalton. Devoted servant Bess gossips her way through the story from her viewpoint in the castle kitchen.
Alarum Theatre “tells the stories of the women on the sidelines of life: servants, carers, workers, the sort of women who get on with life but who observe keenly and have rich stories to tell”.
Warwickshire-based Tell Tale, “compulsive storytellers with a passion for all things historical”, will stage Uncle Richard which was commissioned by Leicester Guildhall and Leicester city council for the reinterment of Richard III in March 2015.
It is set in 1502 and features an 11-year-old Henry VIII, his mother Elizabeth of York and his exuberant tutor John Skelton as they try to piece together Richard's short reign and the disappearance of Prince Harry's uncles, the Princes in the Tower.
Uncle Richard was written by Emma Sian Cooper and is directed by Leicester-based Taresh Solanki. Both feature in the cast along with Stuart Horobin.
The evening will also feature a post-show discussion and question-and-answer session on how theatre companies and heritage venues can work together to bring history to life.