Acting
Ron Cook's Richard—watch the hunchback become the night.
Production
Single set, painted floor—history as claustrophobic nightmare.
Director
Jane Howell
Peter Benson
King Henry VI
Michael Byrne
Marquess of Montague / Father that killed his son
Ron Cook
Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Julia Foster
Queen Margaret
Bernard Hill
Duke of York
Brian Protheroe
Edward, Earl of March, later Edward IV
Mark Wing-Davey
Earl of Warwick
John Benfield
Earl of Northumberland / Huntsman
Paul Chapman
Earl Rivers
Rowena Cooper
Lady Elizabeth Grey, later Queen to Edward IV
Arthur Cox
Duke of Somerset
David Daker
Lord Hastings
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Howell staged all three Henry VI plays in one set with actors doubling roles—forcing viewers to see civil war as endless repetition of the same violence.
This 1983 BBC production helped revive Henry VI's reputation; previously considered 'minor' Shakespeare, it's now seen as the brutal origin of Richard III.
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