Stage set for screening of Royal Shakespeare Company’s Richard II

A filmed recording of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) current production of Richard II is being screened for Coventry University students on Friday 15 November.

The free show will take place at the Square One in The Hub on the University’s city centre campus.

Spanning the last two years of the medieval monarch’s reign, Richard II traces the Plantagenet king’s fall from power and the seizing of his throne by Henry IV of the House of Lancaster.

The RSC’s latest production of the play, directed by the company’s Artistic Director Gregory Doran and starring David Tennant in the title role, has garnered outstanding reviews from the critics during its current run at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

That run comes to an end on Saturday 16 November with the production set to transfer to the Barbican Theatre London from December. This Wednesday, 13 November, Richard II will be the first RSC production to be broadcast live to cinemas across the UK and beyond, as part of a new RSC initiative, “Live from Stratford-upon-Avon”. 

The RSC is also offering schools the opportunity to experience Richard II with a filmed recording of the production being streamed to classrooms across the country this Friday. The University is participating in this event and the showing of the recorded performance will be followed by a live webcast, hosted by television presenter and writer Konnie Huq.

Members of the creative team, including Gregory Doran and David Tennant, will be on hand to take part in a live online Q&A with participating students during the webcast. 

Students on Coventry University’s BA (Hons) English degree are given the opportunity to study Shakespeare’s plays in Year 2.

Dr Lynsey McCulloch, Lecturer in English Literature at Coventry University said:

It’s crucial that students see Shakespeare’s drama in performance. Only then can they understand the circumstances in which this working playwright wrote and the incredible quality of his outputs.

Our Shakespeare module has proved extremely popular and, this year, the screening of the RSC’s Richard II will be followed by a student trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon to see its sequel, Henry IV, Part I. We’re delighted that the RSC have made Richard II available to the University.