TN Shakespeare Company Presents RICHARD III, Now thru 11/1

Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC), the Mid-South's professional classical theatre, opens its seventh performance season with a resurrection of William Shakespeare's Richard III inside Duncan-Williams Performance Hall at Germantown Performing Arts Center over Halloween.

Playing an extremely limited run from today, October 30 - November 1 inside the 824-seat hall, Richard III features TSC founder and producing artistic director Dan McCleary in the title role. The production is sponsored by Ann and Wellford Tabor.

Directed by Dave Demke (TSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream), Richard III features a seasoned cast of eight actors that will act as King Richard's spirit world during All Hallow's Eve. Seven spirits revisit Shakespeare's narrative of the most infamous villain in literary history. This revisitation has been prompted by the factual discovery and un-earthing of the real Richard III under a parking lot in Leicester, England two years ago. The bones remain un-interred as of this writing and performance. The discoveries made about the man who was Richard do not always support Shakespeare's creation, but they do tell a compelling and even painful story.

Richard III features a professional AEA ensemble from around the country and Memphis.

Returning to TSC are Rachel Brun (TSC's Juliet last season), MaConnia Chesser (Kate in The Taming of the Shrew), Johnny Lee Davenport (Othello, Prospero, Oberon/Theseus), Paul Kiernan (Petruchio last season), and Caley Milliken (Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Marc Antony in Julius Caesar, Lady Capulet, and Ariel in The Tempest). New to the company this season are Crash Buist out of Houston and Craig Wesley Divino from NYC.

The design team includes Memphian Bruce Bui (costumes), Brian Ruggaber (scenic and properties), Jeremy Allen Fisher (lighting), Ian Milliken (sound), and Neil Freeman (First Folio). The stage manager is Melissa A. Nathan, with Blakely Saucier and Oliver Crawford.

King Richard III's factual death at Bosworth Field in 1485 prompted his theatrical, if propagandized, fame.

After the battle, when Richard's body was unceremoniously buried at an Abbey in nearby Leicester, much of the truth about him was buried as well. The Earl of Richmond, Henry Tudor, the victor at Bosworth, claimed the English throne by conquest, and as the newly titled King Henry VII, he needed a villain. Over the following years, the 'historical' Richard gave way to the Richard created by Tudor chroniclers. For the past 500 plus years, there have been two Richards: the Richard of history (mostly buried under earth and propaganda); and the dominantly popular, magnificently horrifying, murderous hunchback made famous by William Shakespeare.

"But all that changed when Richard's remains were found in a Leicester car park in 2012," says director Dave Demke. "Suddenly, Richard's bones had their story to tell. And that discovery was the inspiration for this production.

"Tennessee Shakespeare Company's production begins in that Leicester car park, as Richard's bones are being uncovered. Suddenly time stops, the world stands still, and seven ethereal beings appear. They have materialized for the purpose of raising Richard's spirit from the grave. When Richard asks why they have conjured him, they reply:

Once more to tell your story.

Once more to judge your guilt.

Richard's story must, once again, be told; but this time, with his bones able to speak for him, the villainous Richard of legend must be measured against the 'historical' Richard. And what better poet to serve our purpose than William Shakespeare. With the seven ethereal beings as Chorus and supporting cast, Richard himself must play the lead character in Shakespeare's story of his life."

Richard was born into a to-the-death family feud over the English crown. By the time he was eight years old, he had been abandoned to the mercy of enemy forces; his father (the Duke of York) had been killed in battle, his brother Rutland had been murdered, and he and his mother had been forced to leave England.

Known as the Wars of the Roses, the houses of York and Lancaster fought continuously for nearly 20 years until a decisive Yorkist victory at Tewksbury and the murder of Henry VI in the Tower of London. Richard led the main force of the Yorkist army at the Battle of Tewksbury and played a significant role in securing a victory for his brother Edward. Richard was then just 19 years old.

"A child of war grows into a deeply wounded man," says Demke. "One can only imagine the psychological and physical scars Richard must have borne in his adult life. As he plays out the inevitable end to his own story, it is not the Chorus that must judge his guilt, it is us. And in truth, how can we? All we can do is attempt to understand him, to show respect, and give care to his bones."