Excavating Richard III
Class | Available (Membership Required)
There is a phrase attributed to Winston Churchill that says, “History is often written by the victor." In this course, we will attempt to excavate the true legacy (as much as possible) of the English man and king we know as Richard III, the last of the Plantagenet kings and the last king of England ever to be slain in battle.
If we were to read only Shakespeare’s play, Richard III, we would believe Richard to be Machiavellian: a villain who usurped the crown from his nephew and proceeded to kill this same nephew and his younger brother; an immoral, manipulative, violent and cruel human being. Is this portrayal just, however, or merely Tudor propaganda?
Join me over the next eight weeks as we sift through evidence brought to light by Shakespeare, filmmakers, novelists, archaeologists, scientists and historians who, along with the Richard III Society, have worked at excavating Richard’s true historical legacy. Be prepared to listen, watch, discuss and maybe even do a little digging of your own!
Sharon Rae Paquette
Sharon is a theatre artist, writer and photographer. She was a professor of theatre at both New England College and Plymouth State University, where she directed such shows as How I Learned to Drive, The Laramie Project, Lysistrata, Les Miserables, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Romeo and Juliet.
For 10 years, Sharon taught at and ran a theatre company at the New Hampshire State Prison for Men, where she directed such shows as Waiting for Godot, The Real Inspector Hound and Macbeth. She authored a chapter in the book Performing New Lives – Prison Theatre titled “From the Meanest Creature – Theatre as a Vehicle for Change,” which chronicles a portion of her time spent as a theatre facilitator at the prison.