Bright wishes to you all during this holiday season! We hope you can join us for our monthly "Let's Make a Scene!" Thursday, Dec 28th, 2023, 7:30 to 8:30 PM EST we will round-robin read Richard III: The 30-Minute Shakespeare over Zoom.
Be a villainous hunchback King, a grieving-but-easily-seduced widow, a vicious ex-queen, someone soon-to-be murdered, the ghosts of the recently murdered, and more! All in good fun.
Revel in this Winter of our discontent!
No experience necessary, just show up and read the script in the chat of the Zoom or go to a link I will provide soon to download and print the script or read it on a tablet.
FREE PDF of Richard III: The 30-Minute Shakespeare to all participants.
Be there! Or be absent at your own peril!
Here is the Zoom Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84071820952?pwd=Vm5pbnJaWSsrNU9JTzdqalVXZDRhQT09
Here is the script in PDF, Word and Text (small blue links below the text)
And here is the text pasted. You can print out or read on a tablet. Play on! Nick Newlin
Characters In the Play
The following is a list of characters that appear in this cutting
of Richard III.
Twenty characters appeared in the original production. This
number can be increased to about thirty or decreased to about
twelve by having actors share or double roles.
For the full breakdown of characters, see Sample Program.
Richard, Duke oF Gloucester: later King Richard III
Clarence: Brother to King Edward and Richard
Guard
Lady Anne: Widow of Prince Edward (son to the late King
Henry VI), later wife to Richard
Queen Elizabeth: King Edward’s wife (formerly the Lady
Grey)
Duke of Buckingham
Queen Margaret: Widow of King Henry VI
James Tyrrell: Gentleman
Narrator
Duchess of York: Mother of Richard, Edward, and Clarence
Ghost of Prince Edward
Ghost of King Henry VI
Ghost oF Lady Anne
Ghost oF Duke of Buckingham
Ghosts of Two Princes
Lord Stanley: Earl of Derby
Earl oF Richmond: Henry Tudor, later King Henry VII
Scene 1. (act i, Scene i.)
Richard
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York,
Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front; He
capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber To the lascivious
pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,
I, that am rudely stamped by dissembling nature,
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them—
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover I am
determinèd to prove a villain.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the King
In deadly hate, the one against the other.
.
Dive, thoughts, down to my soul.
Here Clarence comes.
Clarence
I
must, perforce. Farewell.
Brother, good day. What means this armèd guard That
waits upon your Grace?
Clarence
His Majesty,
Tend’ring my person’s safety, hath appointed This
conduct to convey me to the Tower.
Richard
Why, this it is when men are ruled by women. ’Tis not
the King that sends you to the Tower. My Lady Grey
his wife, Clarence, ’tis she That tempers him to this
extremity.
We are not safe, Clarence; we are not safe.
Brother, farewell. I will unto the King,
Meantime, this disgrace in brotherhood
Touches me deeper than you can imagine.
Clarence
I know it pleaseth neither of us well.
Richard
Well, your imprisonment shall not be long.
I will deliver you or else lie for you.
Meantime, have patience.
Richard
Go tread the path that thou shalt ne’er return.
Simple, plain Clarence, I do love thee so
That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven,
Clarence hath not another day to live;
Which done, God take King Edward to His mercy, And
leave the world for me to bustle in. For then I’ll marry
Warwick’s youngest daughter.
What though I killed her husband and her father?
Scene 2. (act i, scene ii.)
Anne
Poor key-cold figure of a holy king,
Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood,
O, cursèd be the hand that made these holes;
Cursèd the heart that had the heart to do it; If ever he
have wife, let her be made More miserable by the death
of him.
Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell.
Thou hadst but power over his mortal body;
His soul thou canst not have. Therefore begone.
Richard
Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst.
Anne
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries. O, see, see dead
Henry’s wounds !
Open their congealed mouths and bleed afresh!—
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity,
For ’tis thy presence that exhales this blood
From cold and empty veins where no blood dwells.
Thy deeds, inhuman and unnatural,
Provokes this deluge most unnatural.—
Richard
Divine perfection of a woman, I did not kill your
husband.
Anne
Why then, he is alive.
Richard
Nay, he is dead, and slain by Edward’s hands.
Anne
In thy foul throat thou liest. Queen Margaret saw Thy
murd’rous falchion smoking in his blood.
Richard
I was provokèd by her sland’rous tongue. Anne
Thou wast provokèd by thy bloody mind, That never
dream’st on aught but butcheries. Didst thou not kill this
king?
Richard) I grant you.
Anne
Dost grant me, hedgehog?
O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous.
Richard
The better for the King of heaven that hath him. Anne
He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come. And thou
unfit for any place but hell.
Richard
Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it.
Anne
Some dungeon.
Richard
Your bedchamber.
Your beauty was the cause of that effect— Your beauty,
that did haunt me in my sleep To undertake the death of
all the world,
So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom.
Anne
Black night o’ershade thy day, and death thy life. It is
a quarrel just and reasonable
To be revenged on him that killed my husband.
Richard
He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband Did it to help
thee to a better husband.
Anne
Where is he?
Richard Here.
Anne spits at richard..
Why dost thou spit at me? Anne
Would it were mortal poison for thy sake.
Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes.
Richard
Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine.
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
Lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword, And
humbly beg the death upon my knee.
Anne
Arise, dissembler. Though I wish thy death, I will not be
thy executioner.
Richard
Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.
Vouchsafe to wear this ring.
Anne
To take is not to give.
. Richard
Look how my ring encompasseth thy finger;
Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart.
And if thy poor devoted servant may But beg one favor
at thy gracious hand,
Thou dost confirm his happiness forever.
Anne
What is it?
Richard
After I have solemnly interred And wet his grave with
my repentant tears, I will with all expedient duty see
you.
Grant me this boon.
Anne
With all my heart, and much it joys me too To see you
are become so penitent.— Farewell.
Richard
Was ever woman in this humor wooed?
Was ever woman in this humor won?
I’ll have her, but I will not keep her long.
What, I that killed her husband and his father, And I no
friends to back my suit at all But the plain devil and
dissembling looks?
Ha!
Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass, That I may
see my shadow as I pass.
Scene 3. (act i, Scene iii.)
Richard
They do me wrong, and I will not endure it! Who is it
that complains unto the King That I, forsooth, am stern
and love them not? I must be held a rancorous enemy.
Queen Elizabeth Come, come, we know your meaning, brother
Gloucester.
You envy my advancement, and my friends’.
Richard Our brother is imprisoned by your means, Myself
disgraced, and the nobility Held in contempt.
Queen Elizabeth I never did incense his Majesty Against the
Duke of Clarence.
My lord, you do me shameful injury Falsely to draw me
in these vile suspects.
Small joy have I in being England’s queen.
Queen Margaret Thy honor, state, and seat is due to me.
. Richard
’Tis time to speak, my pains are quite forgot.
Queen Margaret) Out, devil! Thou killed’st my husband Henry
in
the Tower,
And Edward, my poor son, at Tewkesbury.
A murd’rous villain, and so still thou art.
Richard
Foul, wrinkled witch, what mak’st thou in my sight?
Wert thou not banishèd on pain of death?
Queen Margaret
I was, but I do find more pain in banishment Than death
can yield me here by my abode.
A husband and a son thou ow’st to me;
And thou a kingdom;— all of you, allegiance.
This sorrow that I have by right is yours,
And all the pleasures you usurp are mine.
Can curses pierce the clouds and enter heaven?
Why then, give way, dull clouds, to my quick curses!
Edward thy son, that now is
Prince of Wales,
For Edward our son, that was Prince of Wales,
Die in his youth by like untimely violence.
Thyself a queen,
for me that was a queen,
Outlive thy glory, like my wretched self.
Long mayst thou live to wail thy children’s death And
see another, as I see thee now,
Decked in thy rights, as thou art stalled in mine.
Long die thy happy days before thy death,
And, after many lengthened hours of grief,
Die neither mother, wife, nor England’s queen.—
Queen Elizabeth.
Have done thy charm, thou hateful, withered hag.
Queen Margaret
And leave out thee? Stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me.
No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine, Unless it be
while some tormenting dream Affrights thee with a hell
of ugly devils.
Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog,
The slave of nature and the son of hell,
Thou slander of thy heavy mother’s womb,
Thou loathèd issue of thy father’s loins,
Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune, Why
strew’st thou sugar on that bottled spider, Whose deadly web
ensnareth thee about?
Fool, fool, thou whet’st a knife to kill thyself.
The day will come that thou shalt wish for me To help
thee curse this poisonous bunch-backed toad.
O Buckingham, take heed of yonder dog!
Look when he fawns,
Beware of him.
;
Sin, death, and hell have set their marks on him
Richard
What doth she say, my lord of Buckingham?
Buckingham
Nothing that I respect, my gracious lord.
Queen Margaret
What, dost thou scorn me for
my gentle counsel, And soothe
the devil that I warn thee
from?
O, but remember this another day,
When he shall split thy very heart with sorrow.
Buckingham
My hair doth stand an end to hear her curses.
Richard
The secret mischiefs that I set abroach
I lay unto the grievous charge of others.
And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stol’n forth of Holy Writ,
And seem a saint when most I play the devil
Scene 4. (act iV, Scene ii.)
Narrator
We are now in Act 4. A lot has happened since Act
1. Richard has caused the murder of his brother
Clarence. (Note to Richard: nobody likes a bully.)
Somehow, Richard manages to become king. But he is
not happy yet! So he asks his ally Buckingham to murder
Elizabeth’s sons, the two young princes. Richard is on a
roll!
Richard
Cousin of Buckingham.
Buckingham
My gracious sovereign.
Richard
Give me thy hand.
Ah, Buckingham, now do I play the touch, To try if thou
be current gold indeed:
Young Edward lives; think now what I would speak.
Buckingham
Say on, my loving lord.
Richard
Why, Buckingham, I say I would be king.
Buckingham
Why so you are, my thrice-renownèd lord.
Richard
Ha! Am I king? ’Tis so—but Edward lives.
Buckingham
True, noble prince.
Richard
Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead, And I would
have it suddenly performed.
Buckingham Give me some little breath, some pause, dear
lord, Before I positively speak in this.
Richard
High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect.— No
more shall he be the neighbor to my counsels.
Tyrrel
James Tyrrel, and your most obedient subject.
Richard
Dar’st thou resolve to kill a friend of mine?
Tyrrel
Please you. But I had rather kill two enemies.
Richard
Why then, thou hast it. Two deep enemies, Tyrrel, I
mean those bastards in the Tower..
Tyrrel
I will dispatch it straight.
Buckingham
My lord, I claim the gift, my due by promise,
For which your honor and your faith is pawned— Th’
earldom of Hereford
Which you have promisèd I shall possess.
I am not in the giving vein today.
Buckingham
And is it thus? Repays he my deep service
With such contempt? Made I him king for this? O, let me
be gone while my fearful head is on!
Scene 5. (act iV, Scene iV.)
Queen Margaret
So now prosperity begins to mellow And drop into the
rotten mouth of death. Here in these confines slyly have I
lurked To watch the waning of mine enemies. Who
comes here?
Queen Elizabeth
Ah, my poor princes! Ah, my tender babes, Hover about
me with your airy wings And hear your mother’s
lamentation.
Duchess
So many miseries have crazed my voice That my woe-wearied
tongue is still and mute.
Queen Margaret
I had an Edward till a Richard killed him;
I had a husband till a Richard killed him. Thou hadst an
Edward till a Richard killed him; Thou hadst a Richard till
a Richard killed him. From forth the kennel of thy womb
hath crept A hellhound that doth hunt us all to death—
Duchess
That foul defacer of God’s handiwork
Thy womb let loose to chase us to our graves. Earth
gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, To have him suddenly
conveyed from hence.
Cancel his bond of life, dear God I pray,
That I may live and say “The dog is dead”.
Queen Elizabeth
Thou didst usurp my place, and dost thou not Usurp the
just proportion of my sorrow? Now thy proud neck bears
half my burdened yoke, From which even here I slip my
weary head And leave the burden of it all on thee.
Farewell, York’s wife, and queen of sad mischance.
These English woes shall make me smile in France.
Richard
Who intercepts me in my expedition?
Queen Elizabeth)
Tell me, thou villain-slave, where are my children?
Duchess Art thou my son?
Richard
Madam, I have a touch of your condition, That cannot
brook the accent of reproof.
Duchess
Thou cam’st on Earth to make the Earth my hell.
A grievous burden was thy birth to me;
Therefore take with thee my most grievous curse,)
The little souls of Edward’s children.
Bloody thou art; bloody will be thy end.
Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend.
Richard
Stay, madam. I must talk a word with you. You have a
daughter called Elizabeth, I love thy daughter.
And do intend to make her Queen of England.
Queen Elizabeth
How canst thou woo her?
That would I learn of you.
Queen Elizabeth
Shall I be tempted of the devil thus?
Richard
Ay, if the devil tempt you to do good.
Queen Elizabeth
Yet thou didst kill my children.
Richard
But in your daughter’s womb I bury them,
Where, in that nest of spicery, they will breed Selves of
themselves, to your recomforture.
Queen Elizabeth (comforted and hypnotized by this idea) Shall
I go win my daughter to thy will?
Richard
And be a happy mother by the deed.
Queen Elizabeth
I go.
Richard
Relenting fool and shallow, changing woman!
Scene 6. (act V, Scene iii.)
Narrator
Guess what happened to Richard’s only real ally
Buckingham for refusing to kill the two young
princes? You guessed it: Execution! Meanwhile,
Richmond and his army are preparing to march
against Richard. Richard tries to get some rest in his
tent, but the pesky ghosts of people he has killed
interrupt his beauty sleep. Sorry, Richard. Payback is
a bitch.
. Richard
Up with my tent!—Here will I lie tonight. But where
tomorrow?
.
Ghost of Edward
Let me sit heavy on thy soul tomorrow. Think how thou
stabbed’st me in my prime of youth Despair therefore,
and die!
Despair therefore, and die!
Ghost oF Henry VI
When I was mortal, my anointed body By thee was
punchèd full of deadly holes.
Think on the Tower and me. Despair and die!
Despair and die!
Ghost of Anne
Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy wife, That
never slept a quiet hour with thee, Now fills thy sleep
with perturbations. Tomorrow, in the battle, think on me,
And fall thy edgeless sword. Despair and die!
Despair and die!
Ghost of Buckingham
The first was I that helped thee to the crown; The last
was I that felt thy tyranny. O, in the battle think on
Buckingham, And die in terror of thy guiltiness.
And die in terror of thy guiltiness!
Ghosts of Princes (to Richard)
Dream on thy cousins smothered in the Tower. Let us be
lead within thy bosom, Richard,
And weigh thee down to ruin, shame, and death.
Thy nephews’ souls bid thee despair and die.
Despair and
Die!
. Richard
Give me another horse! Bind up my wounds!
Have mercy, Jesu!—
Soft, I did but dream.
O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me! What
do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by.
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And
every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain. I shall
despair. There is no creature loves me, And if I die no
soul will pity me.
Scene 7. (act V, Scenes 4 and 5)
Richard
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!
[Richmond takes his sword and, in slow motion, stab the
terrified Richard and kills him].
Richmond
God and your arms be praised, victorious friends!
The day is ours; the bloody dog is dead.
“The bloody dog is dead!”
Stanley
Courageous Richmond
Wear it, enjoy it, and make much of it.
Richmond
England hath long been mad and scarred herself:
The brother blindly shed the brother’s blood;
The father rashly slaughtered his own son;
The son, compelled, been butcher to the sire.
O, now let Richmond and Elizabeth,
The true succeeders of each royal house,
By God’s fair ordinance conjoin together,
All
Now civil wounds are stopped, peace lives again.
That she may long live here, God say amen.
ALL hold hands and take a bow!