Production Diary 5 | Richard II | Royal Shakespeare Company

Production Diary 5 - 27 September 2013

Professor Jim Shapiro sits in on week five of rehearsals for Richard II.

He talks about treason, censorship and seditious material in 'a radioactive play', which was both shocking and highly topical for audiences when it was written, and six years later sparked an uprising.

Professor Shapiro explains connections between Richard II and the reigning monarch, Elizabeth I, which Elizabeth herself, then a childless and ageing monarch, saw all too clearly. Like Richard, she had problems with Ireland, taxed her people and had no heir.

Richard II plays in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon from 10 October to 16 November 2013. It transfers to the Barbican 9 December to 25 January.

For more information visit http://onscreen.rsc.org.uk/richard-ii/