Slade Wolfe Enterprises is known for its one person shows that complicate audience understandings of figures in history and classical literature. Sold out for a second year in a row, 1 King, 2 Princes and Shakespeare’s Lie grants the stage to King Richard III, who is allowed to present a defence against Shakespeare’s influence on our memory of his life.
Though it is an interesting piece of drama, Andrew Slade also aims to be entirely committed to sticking only to ‘confirmed facts.’ Slade highlights Shakespeare’s reliance on Thomas More’s account and the biases within it, skilfully portraying a bitter and stubborn Richard III, resentful that Shakespeare made him out to be a villain- and that the audience ‘believed him’. This production serves to invite the audience to ‘look beyond the quill’ and encourages critical analysis of the provenance of the media you consume. It is full of emotive moments, including an impassioned speech recounting how ‘chivalry died at Bosworth.’
The audience is introduced to a King who demonstrates much reverence for the law and the ways it can be used to benefit the country. This was achieved, for example, through description of his 1484 statutes safeguarding accused persons from having their goods seized without having been convicted – encouraging the granting of bail. Slade provides the advocacy of a defence lawyer, proving his character King Richard to be an upstanding individual. He pokes holes in the logic of assuming him a murderer — with a lack of evidence, a complete lack of accusations prior to his death, and retroactive explanations claiming his hired assassins disposed of the princes’ bodies under a staircase in the chapel of the White Tower —that many historians believe did not exist during the reign of Richard III.
The performance is an exciting experience for anyone passionate about history or mystery. Whether you are keenly informed on King Richard III and going in with a judgement, or you don’t know your Tudors from your Stuarts, it is informed by enthusiastic research, littered with witty remarks, and persuasively delivered with passion. At the end, the audience are granted the opportunity to vote to decide whether his majesty is vindicated or shall continue to be remembered for being a Shakespearean villain.
1 King, 2 Princes and Shakespeare’s Lie is running until 29 August (not 23) at 43 Annexe at theSpace @ Symposium Hall (Venue 43). Buy tickets here.
Image by Jörg Angeli on Unsplash.
