The Llanarth Group presents RICHARD III REDUX

Sara Beer is back and ready to rule as she takes on the role of king in The Llanarth Group's reimagining of Richard III next spring. Written by award-winning playwright Kaite O'Reilly, director Phillip Zarrilli brings his latest production to venues across Wales in March 2018.

Richard III: Bogeyman. Villain. Evil incarnate. Or is he? What if he is she? What if the 'hideous.... deformed, hobbling, hunchbacked cripple' is portrayed by someone funny, female, feminist, and with the same form of scoliosis? How might the story change, the body change, the acting change, the character change when explored by a disabled actress with deadly comic timing and a dislike for horses? How would previous star vehicle Richards measure up? Olivier, McKellan, Pacino, Sher - watch out - the mighty richard III redux has you in the frame.

Riotously inventive and joyously irreverent, richard III redux is not a production of Shakespeare's classic, but an interweaving of stories about acting, difference, and a maligned historical figure told by unreliable narrator Sara Beer. She takes on Richard as a solo performer in a number of guises, interspersed with video and live camera sequences. The production will premiere at Cardiff's Chapter Arts Centre on International Women's Day, 8 March 2018.

Sara Beer said "I am extremely lucky to have worked with Kaite O'Reilly and Phillip Zarrilli on several projects over the years. Playing Richard III is not an opportunity I ever expected to arise but when Kaite suggested it as a way of exploring the many aspects of this much maligned character and the portrayal throughout history by non-disabled actors I jumped at the chance. It is a hugely enjoyable process as well as a challenge like no other I have experienced. This production will be anything but traditional, but I am sure it will be thought provoking as well as entertaining."

Written by O'Reilly, the production is directed by Phillip ZarrillI, with videography by Cardiff based filmmaker Paul Whittaker.

Kaite O'Reilly is a Wales-based playwright and theatre-maker who works internationally, with a specialism in disability arts and culture. Her award-winning plays and performance work are innovative in form, aesthetics, and content.

Kaite said "It's wonderful being able to work in Wales with a director in such demand across the world, and on such a fascinating subject. Despite historical proof to the contrary, for hundreds of Years Richard III has been the embodiment of evil - the bogeyman smothering innocent children, his misshapen exterior reflecting a twisted inner psyche. A long line of distinguished actors have used considerable ingenuity to portray this "twisted-body-twisted-mind" - and so effectively, a fear and distrust of physical difference has become ingrained. Shakespeare has a lot to answer for - he had Richard III stitched up - and I want to unpick some of these stitches, to reconsider the historical impact of a the hellish 'bottled spider', and to have some fun with actorly depiction, deconstructing Richard with a female comedic performer, with a disability perspective. We want to raise questions about the representation of difference, as well as raising some laughs."

Phillip Zarrilli, Artistic Director of The Llanarth Group, spent much of 2017 out of Wales, working on projects in Berlin, Greece, and Israel, and directing productions in Norway, Singapore, and Costa Rica for The National Theatre Company.

Phillip said "richard III redux is not a performance of Shakespeare's play. Rather, it is a roughing up, a re-visitation of the problematic set of assumptions and premises on which Shakespeare (falsely) (mis)shaped his Richard as 'a poisonous bunch-back'd toad', 'deform'd, unfinish'd...villain'. The performance will be a mosaic with alternative lenses/voices/roles through which Sara Beer's 'richard III' will be re-mixed. I loved working with Sara Beer on Kaite O'Reilly's Cosy last year at Wales Millennium Centre, and to work with her again now on this production is an absolute delight. She lights up the stage."

Kaite, Phillip and Sara have recently returned to Wales following a successful cultural exchange with disabled and Deaf artists in Singapore, commissioned by Unlimited and supported by the British Council and Arts Council Wales.

richard III redux OR Sara Beer [IS/NOT] richard III is a Llanarth Group production and is kindly supported by Arts Council Wales. The production will tour to Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Mold, Cardigan and Milford Haven in spring 2018.

Cast and Creative Team
Performer: Sara Beer
Playwright: Kaite O'Reilly (Follow Kaite on Twitter: @kaiteoreilly)
Director: Phillip Zarrilli
Videographer: Paul Whittaker

2018 Tour Dates
8, 9, 10, 16,17 March: Chapter Theatre, Cardiff
14, 15 March: Aberystwyth Art Centre Studio
19, 20 March: Theatre Clwyd, Mold
21 March: The Torch Theatre, Milford Haven
23 March - Small World: Theatre, Cardigan

Sara Beer - Actor: Sara has been involved in Disability Arts for the past 30 years. She began her acting career with Graeae Theatre Company in London and returned to Wales where she performed with inclusive theatre companies. For the past ten years, Sara has been working with Disability Arts Cymru, a national disabled-led organisation that supports disabled people to engage with the arts. In 2016, Sara performed in Kaite O'Reilly's play Cosy to great critical acclaim. In 2017 Sara has been part of the core acting ensemble in Kaite O'Reilly's And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/UK 'd' Monologues funded by an Unlimited International award which was shown as work-in-progress at Centre-42, Singapore, in September 2017 and will premiere in Singapore in 2018, transferring to the UK in the autumn.

Kaite O'Reilly - Playwright: Kaite is a playwright, radio dramatist, writer, and dramaturg who works in disability arts and culture and mainstream culture. She has won many awards for her work, including the Peggy Ramsay Award for YARD (The Bush, London), M.E.N. best play of the year for Perfect (Contact Theatre), Theatre-Wales Award for peeling (Graeae Theatre company) and the Ted Hughes Award for new works in Poetry for her reworking of Aeschylus's Persians for National Theatre Wales in their inaugural year. She was a finalist in the International Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in for her play about memory and brain injury The Almond and the Seahorse, currently in development with Mad As Birds Films. She is widely published and produced, with plays translated/produced in eleven countries worldwide. Her 2016 productions included Cosy at Wales Millennium Centre (The Llanarth Group), The Almond and the Seahorse in Estonia and Germany, and the Taiwanese production of the 9 Fridas in Mandarin, transferring to Hong Kong Repertory Theatre (also directed by Phillip Zarrilli). These plays are collected in her critically acclaimed Atypical Plays for Atypical Actors, published by Oberon in 2016. A leading figure in disability arts and culture in the UK, she received two Cultural Olympiad Commissions for In Water I'm Weightless, produced by National Theatre Wales/Southbank Centre as part of the official festival celebrating the 2012 London Olympics/Paralympics. She has received bursaries from Literature Wales and recently was awarded a prestigious Creative Wales Award from Arts Council Wales. She is the 2017 recipient of an Unlimited International Commission for And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/UK 'd' Monologues, premiering in Singapore in 2018, with a UK tour in Autumn 2018. Further information: www.kaiteoreilly.com / www.kaiteoreilly.wordpress.com

Twitter: @kaiteoreilly

Phillip Zarrilli - Director & Artistic Director of The Llanarth Group: Phillip Zarrilli is the founding Artistic Director of The Llanarth Group. He is internationally known as a director and performer, and for training actors through a pre-performative/psychophysical process using Asian martial and mediation arts. He maintains a private studio in West Wales for rehearsals and training actors from around the world. Phillip's recent directorial work includes Kaite O'Reilly's And Suddenly I Disappear (an Unlimited commission with partners in Singapore, R & D 2017); ...semblance...sequel...specter: Beckett's Footfalls and Play, in association with The National Theatre Company (Costa Rica) and Collective Escenico Dragon (2017); world premiere of Kaite O'Reilly's Cosy (Wales Millennium Centre, 2016); Kaite O'Reilly's the 9 fridas with Mobius Strip (Taipei) on invitation at the Hong Kong Rep International Black Box Festival (2016; original production as Guest Director at Taipei Arts Festival in 2014); The Llanarth Group's Told by the Wind UK tour (2016; premiered 2010); Ota Shogo's The Water Station for Nordland Teatre (Norway, 2015); and playing 'the maids'-co-created by The Llanarth Group, Gaitkrash, and Theatre P'yut (2015). Zarrilli conducts intensive training in the psychophysical process of training actors throughout the world, most recently in Shanghai for Vertebrae Theatre, at the Intercultural Theatre Institute (Singapore), and at the Norwegian Theatre Academy. www.phillipzarrilli.com

Paul Whittaker - Filmaker: Paul is a Cardiff based artist, writer and filmmaker. He recently wrote and directed Gods and Kings at Sherman Theatre, Cardiff. Having worked as a freelance filmmaker for over a decade, Paul completed his Masters in Creative Writing at Swansea University achieving the grade of distinction.Since he was diagnosed with Bi-Polar Manic Depression whilst studying for his BA in Film, Paul has spent his life exploring his condition through the Arts and working with the Public Sector. Several of his projects made with Public Health Wales have received national and international recognition. Driven by a desire to continually expand his knowledge Paul has exhibited as a digital artist, worked in theatre, television, dance as well as independent film. His numerous clients include - The Sherman Theatre, The Old Vic, Channel 4, Mind Cymru, Public Health Wales and Arts Council Wales.

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