Richard III

Ian McKellen on Richard III, Macbeth, and Gandalf
Sir Ian McKellen tells us about some of his most famous roles: playing Macbeth opposite Dame Judi Dench, King Richard III with a screenplay he co-wrote, and Gandalf the Grey in The Lord of the Rings films.

Folger Finds: Edwin Booth's royal tunic

Mike Lew on Teenage Dick
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 174 In Mike Lew’s play Teenage Dick, Richard, a high-school senior with cerebral palsy, is determined to become class president by any means necessary. Commissioned by theater artist Gregg Mozgala and Apothetae, the company Mozgala started to talk about…

Richard III: My kingdom for a horse

Richard III and disability: Excerpt - "Unfixable Forms" by Katherine Schaap Williams
What did Richard III and his disability represent to Shakespeare’s original audiences? And how has this Shakespeare villain shaped the field of early modern disability studies today? Katherine Schaap Williams takes a closer look at these questions in the below…

Richard III in Prison
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 166 Frannie Shepherd-Bates founded Shakespeare in Prison in 2012. Nine years later, SIP is the signature community program of the Detroit Public Theatre and has worked on a total of eight plays with a women’s ensemble at…

Shakespeare and Game of Thrones
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 159 Based on his knowledge of Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays, Harvard’s Dr. Jeffrey R. Wilson knew just how HBO’s Game of Thrones would play out. Jon Snow, the illegitimate son, was a Richard III type, who would win…

How to control dreams and avoid nightmares… and the ghost visitations in ‘Richard III’
Richard III, act 5 scene 3, in the tent, Richard asleep, ghosts of persons he had murdered. Painted by J. Opie, R.A. ; engraved by W. Sharp. Published 1794. Folger Shakespeare Library. Nightmares and ominous dreams are used to…

"Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen": Hedgehogs in Shakespeare's plays and the early modern imagination
Edward Topsell. The historie of foure-footed beastes. 1607. FOLGER STC 24123 copy 1 While the global population of European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) is stable, their numbers have been rapidly declining in the UK for decades, especially in rural areas. This…

Richard III: Taffety Punk's Bootleg Shakespeare
Kimberly Gilbert as Richard III. Photo by Brittany Diliberto. Bootleg Shakespeare is not your typical night at the theater: The actors show up on the day of the performance with only their lines memorized; after a few hours of rehearsals,…

Drawing Shakespeare: Richard III
