Shakespeare, the famous playwright who wrote about 40 plays and many more poems, created the play, Richard III. It was about a power hungry disabled king who murdered his own family to achieve power, and who exploited the greed in others.
Recently, a UK company is recreating the play for a live audience with one difference: the actor playing Richard actually has a disability. The actor is Arthur Hughes, and he has radial dysplasia which makes both of his arms different.
According to him, “To be playing him on one of the largest Shakespeare stages in the world and to be a disabled man doing it – it’s an honor. It’s also a good sign of where we’re moving towards.” This is because it is the first time that a disable actor played the role of Richard.
How did Shakespeare get the idea of Richard in the first place? Richard was a real person in 1483. The history of how he got up to the crown is foggy though. He murdered a few people, but Shakespeare might’ve exaggerated his body count. His death is also uncertain. Researchers found his bones under a car park.
After the discovery of Richard’s bones, other people got interested in his life. There was even a documentary made about the historical depictions of Richard.
Though the truth about the story is not fully clear, his bones gave valuable information as well. For example, Dr José A Pérez Díez, lecturer in Early Modern Drama in the School of English at the University of Leeds and deputy co-chair of the British Shakespeare Association says, “The discovery of Richard III’s body demonstrated unequivocally that he was indeed severely disabled.” It also showed that he had severe scoliosis.
There are new theories of how Shakespeare got the idea that Richard was evil. One is that Shakespeare correlated disability with villainy. “Shakespeare’s Richard is based mainly on historical chronicles that made him out to be a nasty piece of work because he was disabled – a damaging link between body and morality.” says Ben Spiller, a disabled artist.
Recently, a UK company is recreating the play for a live audience with one difference: the actor playing Richard actually has a disability. The actor is Arthur Hughes, and he has radial dysplasia which makes both of his arms different.
According to him, “To be playing him on one of the largest Shakespeare stages in the world and to be a disabled man doing it – it’s an honor. It’s also a good sign of where we’re moving towards.” This is because it is the first time that a disable actor played the role of Richard.
How did Shakespeare get the idea of Richard in the first place? Richard was a real person in 1483. The history of how he got up to the crown is foggy though. He murdered a few people, but Shakespeare might’ve exaggerated his body count. His death is also uncertain. Researchers found his bones under a car park.
After the discovery of Richard’s bones, other people got interested in his life. There was even a documentary made about the historical depictions of Richard.
Though the truth about the story is not fully clear, his bones gave valuable information as well. For example, Dr José A Pérez Díez, lecturer in Early Modern Drama in the School of English at the University of Leeds and deputy co-chair of the British Shakespeare Association says, “The discovery of Richard III’s body demonstrated unequivocally that he was indeed severely disabled.” It also showed that he had severe scoliosis.
There are new theories of how Shakespeare got the idea that Richard was evil. One is that Shakespeare correlated disability with villainy. “Shakespeare’s Richard is based mainly on historical chronicles that made him out to be a nasty piece of work because he was disabled – a damaging link between body and morality.” says Ben Spiller, a disabled artist.
