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Memories of Richard III in 1988
I was 13 years old when I somewhat accidentally got cast in a play in my small Minnesota home town and I fell in love with theater. My dad decided that if this was what I was going to start doing, he would show me how great it could be (with a lean towards the classics) by taking me to the Guthrie. Almost 25 years later, I still remember waiting in line for rush tickets to see Richard III. I gave my life to the theater largely based on the idea that someday I would be able to reach an audience the way that production reached me. I still vividly remember the play from Richard's first entrance onward. In particular the sound design and the scene design are burned into my memory which, no doubt, contributed to the fact that I now teach theater design and I hope my students are inspired by theater the way the Guthrie inspired me in 1988.
~ George Grubb
I was the intern in Dramaturgy for Richard III. What I remember most was the rigorous attention to historical accuracy in that production.
It was determined that the priests attending the dying King Edward would have attempted to administer last rites during that scene. Great. Did anybody know what that involved? My assignment was to research the rite of exreme unction, as it's called. Having just read about the friction between practitioners of theater and the Catholic Church during the middle ages in my Theater History class at the University of Minnesota, I was very hesitant about contacting a Catholic priest to inquire about this. Would he percieve the Guthrie's desire to portray this sacred rite on stage as just one more abuse of the Church by theatrical profiteers? Fortunately the priest I contacted was a theater lover and willingly offered his assistance. The full rite was not presented on stage to the extent that it interrupted the action of the scene, but it was going on there in the background.
Another piece of historical accuracy in the production came about by lucky accident. While doing research for the production, I stumbled across the "script" for the coronation of King Henry VII. It laid out in precise detail what a coronation ceremony for an English King entailed. It wasn't Richard III's coronation, but it was very close to it in time and no doubt the same ceremonial elements were involved in his coronation. Hence, when Richard was crowned, many of the elements of the actual cornonation of medieval English kings were presented. I remember in particular that the priests had to circle the throne seven times with the crown before laying it on the king's head. On stage, seven ceremonial passes around the throne can result in what we call "dead time," and I'm surprised that it wasn't shortened to three for stage purposes. But it wasn't and I had to chuckle at the pace the priests moved at as they whipped around that throne - I think we lost one piece of historical accuracy while preserving another.
~ Greg Thomas
e-mail your memories of Richard III in 1988
~ George Grubb
I was the intern in Dramaturgy for Richard III. What I remember most was the rigorous attention to historical accuracy in that production.
It was determined that the priests attending the dying King Edward would have attempted to administer last rites during that scene. Great. Did anybody know what that involved? My assignment was to research the rite of exreme unction, as it's called. Having just read about the friction between practitioners of theater and the Catholic Church during the middle ages in my Theater History class at the University of Minnesota, I was very hesitant about contacting a Catholic priest to inquire about this. Would he percieve the Guthrie's desire to portray this sacred rite on stage as just one more abuse of the Church by theatrical profiteers? Fortunately the priest I contacted was a theater lover and willingly offered his assistance. The full rite was not presented on stage to the extent that it interrupted the action of the scene, but it was going on there in the background.
Another piece of historical accuracy in the production came about by lucky accident. While doing research for the production, I stumbled across the "script" for the coronation of King Henry VII. It laid out in precise detail what a coronation ceremony for an English King entailed. It wasn't Richard III's coronation, but it was very close to it in time and no doubt the same ceremonial elements were involved in his coronation. Hence, when Richard was crowned, many of the elements of the actual cornonation of medieval English kings were presented. I remember in particular that the priests had to circle the throne seven times with the crown before laying it on the king's head. On stage, seven ceremonial passes around the throne can result in what we call "dead time," and I'm surprised that it wasn't shortened to three for stage purposes. But it wasn't and I had to chuckle at the pace the priests moved at as they whipped around that throne - I think we lost one piece of historical accuracy while preserving another.
~ Greg Thomas
e-mail your memories of Richard III in 1988