Richard II
This production cast two actors to each play Richard II and Henry Bolingbrooke, the two leads of the play. In an examination of the fears of unstable leadership at the center of the play, we tossed a coin before each performance to see which actor played which character. The actors were then given seconds to transition into character before the play proper began.
The production was staged on a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in Austin, Texas.
Richard II was the first of three productions of Shakespeare's history plays that form the backbone of my explorations of casting and performance in my book, Like a King: Casting Shakespeare's Histories for Citizens and Subjects. The production is also discussed in my article, "'Our Lives and All are Bollingbrooke's:" Alternated Double Casting in Richard II, published in Theatre Topics Vol. 25. No. 2 (2015).
The production was staged on a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in Austin, Texas.
Richard II was the first of three productions of Shakespeare's history plays that form the backbone of my explorations of casting and performance in my book, Like a King: Casting Shakespeare's Histories for Citizens and Subjects. The production is also discussed in my article, "'Our Lives and All are Bollingbrooke's:" Alternated Double Casting in Richard II, published in Theatre Topics Vol. 25. No. 2 (2015).
