producing Richard III

A detailed Summary of producing Richard III

I believe that the only way to do Richard III justice is to produce it as a western, using the famous gunfight at the OK Corral as the setting. Actions packed movies are underlined with the same themes that I find in Shakespeare's Richard III: Deceit, double-crossing, power, lust and of course, murder. In fact, most historical conflicts have more than one of the elements that I have just mentioned. When we weave the right historical moment into Richard III, we will get a Hollywood phenomena.

Richard should be portrayed close to John Henry Holliday, who was more known as Doc Holliday. In Shakespeare's story, Richard is physically deformed. Doc Holliday, was also physically deformed but he had TB. Richard appears to have no real friends, as did Doc. They both appeared to be cold-blooded killers and feared by many, even shunned by family.

The opening scene of the film would be in the Oriental Saloon. Richard would be sitting at a poker table alone, throwing back shots of Kentucky whiskey as he speaks his first silique:

"Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious by this son of York/And all the clouds that loured upon our house/in the deep

Clarence should show frustration at the situation at hand, for he surely means his king no harm and believes that Richard knows this also.

"Then, good my lord, take to your royal self/this proffered benefit of dignity/if not to bless and the land withal/yet to draw forth your noble ancestry/from corruption of abusing times/unto a lineal, true derived course" (lines 185- 190).

" Ah ha! My lord, this prince is not an Edward/he is not lolling on a lewd day-bed/but on his knees at meditation/not dallying with a brace of courtesans/but meditating with two deep divines" (lines 71-75).

Richard's relationships seem to be based on deceit, hatred and advantage with the exception of one. The relationship is the one between Richard and his mother, Queen Margaret. This is a relationship that should be played on Richard's part as a quest for a mother's love and respect.

At this point, I want to go back to Anne being corruptive and ambitious. We should see her attitude change from hatred to something more passionate, not necessarily love. Anne should in fact, act flattered. She realizes that if Richard was to try to take the crown, and she believes he would then Richard would need a Queen - a position that she doesn't mind filling. Richard tells her again of his love in lines177 - 179 in 1.2 : "This hand-which, for thy love did kill thy love/shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love/ to both their deaths shall thou be a accessory".

I see Anne as a sly, coy, and ambitiously wanton woman. When Anne says lines 26-28 from 1.2: " If ever he have a wife, let her be made/more miserable by the death of him/ then I am made by my young lord and thee". Her infliction should reflect the vengeful tone of her misery to imply her hatred as clear where Richard is concerned. Then, we see Richard is not giving up and he sees that she made be easily wooed, so he lets the guilt disappear in an admission of love: "Your beauty was the cause of the effect/ your beauty did haunt me in my sleep/ to undertake the death of all the work/so that I might live one hour in your sweet bosom" ( lines 121-124, 1.2).

"But penetrable to your kind entreats/albeit against my conscience and my soul/cousin of Buckingham, and sage, grave men/since you will buckle fortune on my back/to bare her burden, whe'er I will or no/I must have patience to endure the load".

Then we see Richard as he stands up bring a handkerchief to his mouth, thus implying that his deformity in this version is Tuberculosis. He lays his money on the bar and begins to talk to the bartender: "But I, am not shaped for sportive tricks/Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass/I that am rudely stamped and want love's majesty/ to strut before a wanton ambling nymph/cheated of feature by dissembling nature/ deformed, unfinished, sent before my time/into this breathing world scarce half made up/ and that so lamely and unfashionable/that dog

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1957
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English