Shakespeare's darkest tale hits the silver screen!
A comedy!
With fun quiz and meet-the-cast Q&A
This show is one of the first to be welcomed back to Dorking’s Green Room Theatre after a year and a half of hard time for the arts. Our company and the venue have teamed up to celebrate that despite everything the joy of theatre is still alive!
The Travesty of Richard III is a comedy two-hander filmed-play which retells Shakespeare’s chilling tale of power, plots and prophecy.
Originally performed on stage by the two actors and co-writers Ian Renshaw and Helen Manners, the play underwent a radical transformation when Covid 19 struck at the beginning of 2020. Desperate to share their show and undaunted by the challenges presented by the pandemic, Ian and Helen filmed their many characters - each in total isolation - against green screens swapping personae and gender with high-speed gusto. The production was cleverly edited so the two actors appeared to be working in the same space (almost) and a new film version of The Travesty of Richard III was born.
Converting the play into a remotely filmed movie presented many technical challenges but also allowed for the addition of sets, backgrounds, visual effects and a wealth of originally scored music by Ian Renshaw.
Richard III is charming, funny and poignant at times; it stays true to the original Shakespeare story, then mixes original script with “cod” Shakespeare and modern language, not forgetting two musical numbers! It retains a rootsy feel of the original fringe-style play by retaining some “rough-round-the-edges” imperfections in its video execution. This was a deliberate stylistic approach by Ian and Helen as they experimented with a new genre born of Covid isolation: heart and energy over slick production values. They are keen to show the nuts and bolts, the truth, behind this new way of putting together a show.