CAST OF CHARACTERS
Richard, Duke of GloucesterRichard III: Duplicitous, ambitious, murderous and has a jolly good time at all of it.
King Edward IV: Older brother to Richard; Optimistic. But plagued by suspicions, superstitions and sickness.
Queen Elizabeth: Wife of King Edward. Defensive, reactive, constantly suffering, haunted by curses.
Young Edward, Prince of Wales: First heir to the throne. Intelligent, dignified and suspicious of Uncle Richard.
Young Richard, Duke of York: Second heir to the throne. Defiant, bright beyond his years, bold with his opinions.
George, Duke of Clarence: Brother of King Edward and Richard. Sweet, loyal and gullible.
Queen Margaret: The widow of previous King Henry VI. Half-crazed by grief, hails curses, hatred keeps her alive.
Duchess of York: Mother of King Edward, Clarence, Richard. Tough, uncompromising, bitter; detests Richard.
Lady Anne, young widow to Prince Edward of Lancaster: Later wife to Richard. Grief-stricken, unstable, insomniac, afraid to trust her own instincts.
Duke of Buckingham: Richard’s closest ally. Proud, daring, and ambitious.
Lord William Hastings: Lord Chamberlain. Energetic, superficial but trusting and loyal.
Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby: Friend to Hastings, Stepfather to Earl of Richmond. Decent, honest; duplicitous to Richard.
Henry, Earl of Richmond: Lancastrian. Pious, unwavering, righteous, England’s salvation. Later King Henry VII.
Earl Rivers: Elizabeth’s devoted brother. Irritating upstart, mistrusted by everyone else.
Marquess of Dorset & Lord Grey: Elizabeth’s sons by previous marriage. Annoying, arrogant, ambitious supporters of their mother.
Young Shakespeare’s Richard III
Rehearsals: Begin on May 20, 2024
Performances: June 21 - 30, 2024
Mark your calendar for the amazing Tragedy of Richard III: containing, his treacherous plots against his brother Clarence; the pitiful murder of his innocent nephews; his tyrannical usurpation; with the whole course of his detested life, and most deserved death.
Young Shakespeare is an intensive summer performance group for students aged 13-19, but we definitely have had younger experienced students audition in the past. Please let us know if you have any questions! A month-long rehearsal period culminates in a student-performed, professionally-staged production at The Curtain Theater, Austin's own Elizabethan replica theater space. The program is now in its 16th consecutive year.
Our audition workshop has passed but if you are interested in participating, please send us a video submission of you doing some lines from the play that you can request from us at youngshakespeare@austinshakespeare.org.
Email youngshakespeare@austinshakespeare.org to submit your headshot and resume to apply and complete the form on this page. If you do not have a headshot, please send a recent picture. You can send a school picture or simply take a picture from the shoulders up.
Costumes, sets and lighting are professionally designed. The show is directed by Austin Shakespeare professional directors and students receive training in Shakespeare performance. Costumes, sets and lighting are professionally designed.
Young Shakespeare is a tuition-based program, with reasonable rates.
“Each summer we are amazed by the young talent that develops in this professional setting. Teens transform together through six weeks of training in Shakespeare text analysis, voice and diction, movement.”
− Nancy Owens, Co-Director Young Shakespeare
Rehearsal & Performance Dates:
Evening and weekend rehearsals begin May 20, 2024: Rehearsals are Monday-Thursday evenings and Saturday/Sunday afternoons. Rehearsal locations will be at Tapestry Dance Studios.
There will be seven (7) performances June 21-30, 2024: Performances are Thursdays through Sundays at 8 pm at The Curtain Theater.
Reference video
Recommended viewing by Ann Ciccolella
PLOT SUMMARY
Now is the winter of our discontent…— RICHARD III, ACT 1 SCENE I
Richard of Gloucester wants to be King of England. Crippled and malicious, he deceives and manipulates to achieve his goal. He murders his brothers, nephews, and all opponents to become King Richard III. In the end, Henry of Richmond raises an army, and Richard, alienated and betrayed on every side, dies in battle desperately defending his crown. Restoring order to the kingdom, Richmond becomes King Henry VII, the first of the Tudor line.
Act I
Richard’s courts Lady Anne, the widow of Prince Edward (slain by Richard and his brothers) while Anne escorts the body of King Henry VI (also murdered by Richard) for burial. Anne, unable to resist Richard's advances, becomes his Duchess of Gloucester. In the meantime, Richard engineers the imprisonment of his elder brother Clarence in the Tower of London, where Richard's hired assassins kill Clarence and place his body in a cask of wine.
Act II
King Edward IV is ill, and Richard is appointed to govern in his place, aided by Lord Hastings and the Duke of Buckingham. Three women mourn their state: Queen Margaret, former wife of Henry VI; Queen Elizabeth, Edward's wife; and the widowed Duchess of York, Richard's mother.
Act III–IV
To counter any claims to the crown, Richard confines his nephews, the young Prince of Wales and his brother, in the Tower of London. Buckingham assists Richard's rise to power by helping persuade the Lord Mayor and the people of London to support their faction. When disease kills Edward, his brother is proclaimed King Richard III.
Richard has Lord Hastings, the Lord Chamberlain, executed for attempting to thwart him. Richard also sends an assassin to smother the princes in the tower in their sleep. Buckingham suspects Richard's role in the death of the young princes. Then when he is denied an earldom, Buckingham seeks to raise an army against Richard. Richard captures and executes him. Meanwhile, Richard wants Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's daughter, as a new wife to secure his position as King. He has his current wife, Anne, murdered.
Act V
Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, is the heir to the House of Lancaster’s claim to the throne, and he gathers an army in France to oppose Richard's tyrannical reign. Their armies clash at Bosworth Field. The night before the battle, the ghosts of Richard’s victims curse him, while blessing Richmond before the battle. Richmond kills Richard III and is proclaimed Henry VII. He plans to end the ‘Wars of the Roses' by marrying Elizabeth of York and becoming the link between the white rose of York to the red rose of Lancaster.
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! — RICHARD III, ACT 5 SCENE 4