Theatrical Henry VI, Part 3

henry vi (jeffrey t. heyer) , young earl of richmond (ashley rose miller) in west coast premiere of plantagenets: rise of edward iv, staged @ pacific repertory theatre in 1993

the success of 1951–1953 douglas seale stand-alone productions of each of individual plays in birmingham prompted him present 3 plays @ old vic in 1957 under general title wars of roses. barry jackson adapted text, altering trilogy two-part play; 1 henry vi , 2 henry vi combined (with of 1 henry vi eliminated) , 3 henry vi edited down, of act 4 removed, reducing importance of edward in overall play. seale again directed, paul daneman again appearing henry, alan bridges edward , edgar wreford richard, alongside barbara jefford margaret. seale s 1953 birmingham production, end of 3 henry vi altered include opening of richard iii.

the production credited establishing reputation of play in modern theatre john barton , peter hall s 1963/1964 rsc production of tetralogy, adapted three-part series, under general title wars of roses, @ royal shakespeare theatre. first play (entitled henry vi) featured shortened version of 1 henry vi , half of 2 henry vi (up death of cardinal beaufort). second play (entitled edward iv) featured second half of 2 henry vi , shortened version of 3 henry vi, followed shortened version of richard iii third play. in all, 1,450 lines written barton added 6,000 lines of original shakespearean material, total of 12,350 lines removed. production starred david warner henry, peggy ashcroft margaret, roy dotrice edward , ian holm richard. barton , hall both concerned plays reflect contemporary political environment, civil chaos , breakdown of society depicted in plays mirrored in contemporary milieu, events such building of berlin wall in 1961, cuban missile crisis in 1962 , assassination of john f. kennedy in 1963. hall allowed these events reflect in production, arguing live among war, race riots, revolutions, assassinations, , imminent threat of extinction. theatre is, therefore, examining fundamentals in staging henry vi plays. influenced politically focused literary theory of time; both had attended 1956 london visit of bertolt brecht s berliner ensemble, both subscribers antonin artaud s theory of theatre of cruelty , , hall had read english translation of jan kott s influential shakespeare our contemporary in 1964 prior publication in britain. both barton , hall supporters of e.m.w. tillyard s 1944 book shakespeare s history plays, still hugely influential text in shakespearian scholarship, in terms of argument shakespeare in tetralogy advancing tudor myth.

another major adaptation staged in 1986 english shakespeare company, under direction of michael bogdanov. touring production opened @ old vic, , subsequently toured 2 years, performing at, amongst other places, panasonic globe theatre in tokyo, japan (as inaugural play of arena), festival dei due mondi in spoleto, italy , @ adelaide festival in adelaide, australia. following structure established barton , hall, bogdanov combined 1 henry vi , first half of 2 henry vi 1 play, , second half of 2 henry vi , 3 henry vi another, using same titles barton (henry vi , rise of edward iv). barton , hall, bogdanov concentrated on political issues, although made them far more overt had predecessors. example, played june watson, margaret closely modelled after british prime minister @ time, margaret thatcher, point of having similar clothes , hair. likewise, paul brennan s henry modelled after king edward viii, prior abdication. bogdanov employed frequent anachronisms , contemporary visual registers, in effort show relevance of politics in fifteenth century contemporary period. production noted pessimism regards contemporary british politics, critics feeling political resonances heavy handed. however, series huge box office success. alongside watson , brennan, play starred philip bowen edward , andrew jarvis richard.

another adaptation of tetralogy royal shakespeare company followed in 1988, performed @ barbican. adapted charles wood , directed adrian noble, barton/hall structure again followed, reducing trilogy 2 plays dividing 2 henry vi in middle. resulting trilogy entitled plantagenets, individual plays entitled henry vi, rise of edward iv , richard iii, death. starring ralph fiennes henry, penny downie margaret, ken bones edward , anton lesser richard, production extremely successful both audiences , critics. play ended line winter of our discontent; opening line richard iii.

michael bogdanov , english shakespeare company presented different adaptation @ swansea grand theatre in 1991, using same cast on touring production. 8 plays history cycle presented on 7 night period, each play receiving 1 performance only, , twenty-eight actors portraying 5 hundred roles. whilst other 5 plays in cycle unadapted, henry vi plays combined two, using barton/hall structure, first named house of lancaster , second, house of york.

in 2000, edward hall presented trilogy two-part series @ watermill theatre in newbury. hall followed jackson/seale structure, combining 1 henry vi , 2 henry vi 1 play eliminated 1 henry vi , following edited version of 3 henry vi. production noted how handled violence of play. set designed abattoir, rather attempt present violence realistically (as productions do), hall went in other direction; presenting violence symbolically. whenever character decapitated or killed, red cabbage sliced whilst actor mimed death beside it.

in 2001, tom markus directed adaptation of tetralogy @ colorado shakespeare festival. condensing fours plays one, markus named play queen margaret, doing same character of margaret merivale had done york. margaret played gloria biegler, henry richard haratine, edward john jurcheck , richard chip persons.

poster 2001 shakespeare s rugby wars

another unusual 2001 adaptation of tetralogy entitled shakespeare s rugby wars. written matt toner , chris coculuzzi, , directed coculuzzi, play acted upstart crow theatre group , staged outdoors @ robert street playing field part of toronto fringe festival. presented if live rugby match between york , lancaster, play featured commentary falstaff (stephen flett), broadcast live audience. match refereed bill shakespeare (played coculuzzi), , actors (whose characters names appeared on jerseys) had microphones attached , recite dialogue 4 plays @ key moments.

in 2002, leon rubin presented tetralogy trilogy @ stratford shakespeare festival in ontario. using barton/hall method of combining 1 henry vi first half of 2 henry vi, , second half of 2 henry vi 3 henry vi, plays renamed henry vi: revenge in france , henry vi: revolt in england. michael thierry played henry, seana mckenna played margaret, rami posner played edward , thom marriott played richard.

also in 2002, edward hall , propeller company presented one-play all-male cast modern dress adaptation of trilogy @ watermill theatre. under title rose rage, hall used cast of thirteen actors portray 1 hundred , fifty speaking roles in four-hour production, necessitating doubling , tripling of parts. although new adaptation, production followed jackson/seale method of eliminating of 1 henry vi. original cast included jonathan mcguinness henry, robert hands margaret, tim treloar edward , richard clothier richard. after successful run @ haymarket, play moved chicago shakespeare theater. american cast included carman lacivita henry, scott parkinson margaret, fletcher mctaggart edward , bruce a. young richard.

outside england, major european adaptation of tetralogy took place in 1864 in weimar under direction of franz von dingelstedt, who, 7 years had staged play unedited. dingelstedt turned trilogy two-parter under general name die weisse rose. first play called haus lancaster, second haus york. adaptation unique insofar both plays created combining material 3 henry vi plays. following structure, alfred von walzogen produced two-part play in 1875, under general title edward iv. european adaptation in 1965 @ teatro piccolo in milan. directed giorgio strehler went under title il gioco del potenti (the play of mighty). using barton , hall s structure, strehler added several characters, including chorus, used monologues richard ii, both parts of henry iv, henry v, macbeth , timon of athens, , 2 gravediggers called bevis , holland (after names of 2 of cade s rebels in folio text of 2 henry vi), commented (with dialogue written strehler himself) on each of major characters set burying them. major german adaptation peter palitzsch s two-part adaptation of trilogy der krieg der rosen in 1967 @ stuttgart state theatre. condensing 3 plays two, heinrich vi , eduard iv, palitzsch s adaptation concluded opening monologue richard iii.