Benedict Cumberbatch proves a superb villain in The Hollow Crown's Richard III

THE GUARDIAN
Michael Billington
@billicritic
Saturday 21 May 2016 18.10 EDT

 The camera is a close bosom friend … Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard III. Photograph: Robert Viglasky/BBC/Carnival Film & Television Ltd


Richard III brings the BBC’s Hollow Crown cycle to a fine climax. It also confirms that Benedict Cumberbatch is a highly physical, as well as a natural Shakespearean, actor. Watching him wrestle his way into his clothes in the opening soliloquy, I was reminded of his superb performance as the creature in the National Theatre’s Frankenstein. On stage, we witnessed the tortured birth of a monster; here we see Richard acquiring a new identity as he gets laboriously dressed.



Cumberbatch starts with two great advantages. The previous episode enabled him to lay the ground for Richard’s throne-hungry mania. Like Olivier in the film of Richard III, he also uses the camera as a close bosom friend. Having wooed Phoebe Fox’s Lady Anne – an episode that here takes place in a forest glade – he confides to the camera, and thereby to us, his rasping astonishment at her pliability.

In fact, Cumberbatch takes us stage by stage through Richard’s systematic progress to power. The dominant image of the production is of Cumberbatch’s index finger tapping a chessboard, as he works out how to remove the pieces that stand between him and the crown. But it is a mark of Shakespeare’s progress that the dramatist also allows us to see inside Richard’s soul: Cumberbatch is especially good in the eve-of-battle soliloquy, where a character who might simply be a murdering monster pathetically realises “there is no creature loves me”.

Although Cumberbatch dominates the screen, this is far from a one-man show. Judi Dench brings all her clarity of speech and matchless sincerity to Richard’s mother, who views her son with undisguised horror: when she asks “What comfortable hour canst thou name / That ever graced me in thy company?” you totally believe her. Sophie Okonedo’s Queen Margaret stalks the action, right up to the climactic battle, like a vengeful ghost. Keeley Hawes turns Queen Elizabeth into a helpless pawn in Richard’s power games. Anyone who has seen the previous episodes will also understand – in a way that is tricky when the play is seen in isolation – just what the women are talking about when they catalogue Richard’s endless crimes.

READ MORE: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2016/may/21/benedict-cumberbatch-the-hollow-crown-richard-iii

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH: A chilling end to The Hollow Crown, series two, review - 5 Stars

THE TELEGRAPH
 Serena Davies
21 MAY 2016 • 11:10PM

And so, the most famous actor of his generation finally got to wear “the hollow crown”. In all the fuss over the BBC’s 2016 series of Histories – Aunty does six hours of epic, difficult Shakespeare – one man’s shadow has loomed over it. Just as the logic of the plays’ increasingly savage narrative arc is to give birth to a figure of expansive evil in the twisted shape of Richard III, so that sense of culmination was echoed in the casting.

We were all waiting for Benedict Cumberbatch’s rule. He didn’t disappoint. The shaggy-locked malingerer he’d offered for part two – when there were still several family members between Richard and the throne – was mainly given to literally stabbing people in the back, and looking somewhat wild-eyed and hammy in the process. But Cumberbatch got a haircut for Richard III. He smartened up, sharpened up, and sliced into your head. Speaking his monologues to camera like Frank Underwood from House of Cards (Kevin Spacey indeed modelled his Underwood on Richard), this tyrant made you think like him even as you hated him.

One sequence stood out. Tap tap tap went the ring on Richard’s finger on his chessboard, its paranoid beat taking us to the Tower and to the killing he’d ordered of his nephews, the most dreadful of all the dreadful deaths across the plays. The muffled groans of child-murder were spliced with shots of the actor’s putty-like face, which reformed itself from pointed intent to flabby stupefaction at his own degeneracy - Cumberbatch had never done bad better. Tap tap tap. This was a Richard who knew he could never win, who recognised the horror of his sins even as he was remorseless. When he died in the mud at the end he was the most self-loathing of creatures, as well as loathed.



But anyone who watched Richard III alone, simply to revel in King Sherlock, was doing The Hollow Crown an injustice. The series had to be seen as a whole, the greatest achievement being that of director Dominic Cooke, an experienced theatre director but a first timer behind the camera. Cooke was working in a theatrical tradition - this tetralogy on the Wars of the Roses has been presented as three plays (the three Henry VIs combined into two) before, most famously by the RSC in 1963 and most recently by Trevor Nunn at the Rose Kingston in 2015. But Cooke understood the urgency to make the stories cinematic, to cut out the fug of reverence that might induce him to prettify scenes with their pretty language. Indeed he has gone out of his way to make his version of these four plays uglier than the originals.

Most of the deaths in Richard III happen off stage. Here we saw or at least heard the lot. The most bloodthirsty latter stages of Henry VI received truly horrific renderings in the middle film, in particular the three-way slaughter and crowning with thorns of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (Adrian Dunbar). And what use this graphic horror, this seeking out of violence? One answer, already much discussed, is a determination to make it appeal to the same audience that goes potty for Game of Thrones, the most popular TV series in the world.




TO READ MORE OF THIS REVIEW:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/05/21/a-chilling-end-to-the-hollow-crown-series-two-review/

Benedict Cumberbatch talks shirtless Shakespeare in this week's Radio Times

RADIO TIMES
By Ellie Walker-Arnott
Monday 9 May 2016 at 7:00PM

Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch is in this week's Radio Times magazine, discussing his latest project The Hollow Crown, which sees him play iconic Shakespeare villain Richard III.

The 39-year-old talks about the reasons he took on the tough role – "It has some of the most extraordinary, visceral, gut-punching language" – before going on to discuss the "extraordinary bit of serendipity" which led to him being present at the "burial of a king."

Find it all in this week's Radio Times, available in stores and on the
Apple Newsstand now.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-05-09/benedict-cumberbatch-talks-shirtless-shakespeare-in-this-weeks-radio-times

Dame Judi Dench plays Benedict Cumberbatch's mother Cecily Duchess of York in new still from BBC's King Richard III period drama Hollow Crown

DAILY MAIL
By REBECCA DAVISON FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:07 EST, 2 May 2016 | UPDATED: 17:15 EST, 2 May 2016

Dame Judi Dench plays Benedict Cumberbatch's mother, Cecily Duchess of York in the BBC Two's King Richard III period drama Hollow Crown: The Wars Of The Roses, which is set to air on May 7.

The 81-year-old poses alongside Keeley Hawes, who plays Elizabeth and Phoebe Fox, who plays Anne in a new still from the BBC's collection of Shakespearean adaptations which celebrates the author 400 years following his death and his 800th birthday.

The story will follow Richard III's spiral into madness and will chart his life from when he was a child.

Judi was personally requested to take up the role by Benedict back in 2014 at the Hay Festival.

According to the Independent, she was being interviewed by TV and theatre director Richard Eyre when Benedict asked her to take the part.


Perfect for the role: Keeley cuts a regal figure as Edward IV's wife Queen Elizabeth

READ MORE HERE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3570091/Dame-Judi-Dench-cuts-stern-figure-Cecily-Duchess-York-Hollow-Crown.html

Benedict Cumberbatch stars as crazed royal in trailer for The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses

SUN

Benedict Cumberbatch takes centre stage in the latest instalment of BBC Shakespeare series The Hollow Crown.

Titled The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses, Benedict will star alongside Dame Judi Dench, Hugh Bonneville and Sophie Okonedo.

The Sherlock star will be leading the cast as Richard III in the show as the UK celebrates Shakespeare's 800th birthday.


The story will follow Richard III's descent into madness and tracks his life from childhood.

Writer Dominic Cook, while talking to The Express, said of the king, “He’s quite monstrous, he ends up murdering children in the plays. He’s a psychopath. There’s no two ways about it: he’s a psychopath.

“But why did he become like that? There’s a story that leads up to that."

He later added: “There are some incidents he witnesses as a child that are horrific and contribute to him becoming a human being who is not able to empathise with other human beings.”

This new collection will be sure to delight Sherlock fans as Benedict, 39, reunites with Andrew Scott — who plays nemesis Moriarty on the hit BBC show.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/7085904/Benedict-Cumberbatch-stars-in-The-Hollow-Crown.html

Benedict Cumberbatch 'proud' to have read at burial of ancestor Richard III

SUNDAY EXPRESS
By CAMILLA TOMINEY
PUBLISHED: 00:01, Sun, Mar 29, 2015


GIF BY MOLLYDOBBY

The Oscar-nominated actor explained why he felt compelled to be involved in Thursday’s service of reinterment at Leicester Cathedral, where he read the poem Richard by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

Cumberbatch, who is the king’s third cousin, 16 times removed, plays him in the forthcoming BBC series The Hollow Crown: The Wars Of The Roses.

He said: “Having just played his very different Shakespearean characterisation I was intrigued to see what the real historical event would be like and to be a part of this extraordinary moment of remembrance. Then what really sealed the deal was this beautiful poem.

“It’s an extraordinary moment to be witnessing a monarch who has been found after hundreds of years in a car park being reinterred in a cathedral hundreds of yards away. It is a very special thing to witness, let alone be asked to perform at.”

The Sherlock star, 38, revealed how he watched with amazement the Channel 4 documentary, The King In The Car Park, which showed historian Philippa Langley leading the Leicester excavation in 2012 to reveal Richard’s skeleton, 527 years after his death at the Battle of Bosworth.

He said: “As it unfolded you realised the discovery was real, the drama was unheard of in a documentary like that. It wasn’t a high profile programme but it became so because of what they discovered. There was a glorious romanticism about that.”

Cumberbatch believes the rediscovery of the much maligned monarch’s bones has changed the world’s perception of him. “I think the debate in historical and archaeological terms about the reality of him and his kingship is what’s extraordinary to witness now,” he said.

“We’ve all known the play for a long time but now it feels we’re getting to know the king better and to be living in that era is very special.”

Cumberbatch is still in two minds about the king, who remains accused of killing his cousins, Edward V and Richard, the Duke of York, the so-called Princes in the Tower. “I’ve no qualms in viewing both entities of the man in completely different categories,” he said. “The fi ctionalised Shakespearean version of him, while based on some truths, has taken huge dramatic licence. I don’t come down on one side. Both need to co-exist.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/567028/Benedict-Cumberbatch-proud-burial-ancestor-Richard-III

VIDEO: Benedict Cumberbatch reading at Richard III's reburial

MIRROR
10:50, 26 March 2015 By Sam Adams



Hollywood A-lister Benedict Cumberbatch has arrived at Leicester Cathedral for the reburial of King Richard III.

The actor, who is as closely related to the late monarch as the Queen, will read a specially-penned poem by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

Organisers kept Cumberbatch's appearance at the service in Leicester Cathedral a closely-guarded secret.

 

He is Richard's third cousin, 16 times removed, and is to play the last Plantagenet in a BBC adaptation of the War of the Roses.

Cumberbatch, star of 'The Imitation Game', will read the 14-line poem to the congregation of Royals, politicians and religious leaders.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/benedict-cumberbatch-arrives-leicester-cathedral-5402832

Richard III: Benedict Cumberbatch to read poem at the reinterment

LEICESTER MERCURY
By PA_Warzynski  |  Posted: March 24, 2015



Actor and proven descendant of Richard III Benedict Cumberbatch will read a poem at the king's reinterment on Thursday.

Cumberbatch, who will be playing Richard III in the BBC series The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses, will read a work penned by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

The actor was recently identified as a third cousin, 16 times removed of King Richard lll.

Duffy was commissioned late last year by Leicester Cathedral, as plans for the services for the week were being discussed and drawn up.

The poem is entitled 'Richard' and it is described as "a meditation on the impact of his finding and on the legacy of his story".

The poet said: "It is a privilege to be involved, in a small way, in this unique event and to have seen the style and grace with which the City of Leicester has made history alive."

As his tomb will soon be revealed, the 14 line poem includes the phrase 'grant me the carving of my name', which is what has at last been achieved in the creation of the tomb in Leicester Cathedral.

Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Richard-III-Benedict-Cumberbatch-read-poem/story-26223310-detail/story.html#ixzz3VKtemzQu
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Judi Dench tells her version of Benedict Cumberbatch's "shocking" Richard III proposal

RADIO TIMES
13 October, 2014
By Susanna Lazarus



Judi Dench is a busy lady, appearing at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Sunday before being whisked off to Cardiff to continue filming on Richard III, one of three new Hollow Crown films being made by BBC2.

But the actress's role in the Shakespeare adaptation is all thanks to her appearance at another festival earlier this year. Dench, 79, was in conversation with Richard Eyre at Hay Festival last June when Benedict Cumberbatch put her on the spot...

"It's a shocking story," recalls Dench. "We were doing Hay and I was instructing – I had to do the bits of Shakespeare that I remembered – and so I said to [Richard], 'You have to say three lines of this.' I was rehearsing and then Cumberbatch said 'I’ll do that for you'.

"So he leapt up on stage to enormous applause and did these three lines and then went and sat down again and Richard said, 'Any questions?' and there was one question and Ben Cumberbatch turned to my friend David next door to him and said, 'Shall I ask her?' David said 'Yes' and [Cumberbatch] said, 'Are you going to play my mother in Richard III?'



"It’s a very good way of being asked to do a part. You don’t mess about, you don’t spend ages dithering about it. When somebody asks you, say yes or no and I said yes."


READ MORE HERE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-10-13/judi-dench-tells-her-version-of-benedict-cumberbatchs-shocking-richard-iii-proposal

Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Hugh Bonnevill, Michael Gambon and Philip Glenister head back west

By Western Daily Press  |  Posted: October 09, 2014

Keira Knightley and Bendict Cumberbatch pose during the press conference for The Imitation Game at the Corinthia Hotel, London, yesterday. The film tells the story of Dorset man Alan Turing, one of the founding fathers of computing. Cumberbatch is also set to start filming another series of The Hollow Crown in Wells in the next few weeks PICTURE: Anthony Devlin/PA

Wells residents should keep their eyes open for a slew of famous faces who are heading to the city to film the concluding part of The Hollow Crown, the War of the Roses.

Next weekend, production for the second series will take place in Wells.

The cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Sophie Okonedo, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Michael Gambon and Philip Glenister.

Cast and crew will be in Wells from October 19 until October 24, filming at Cathedral Green and Vicars Close – although the BBC press office has been tight-lipped about which of the cast will be headed to Wells.

Motor vehicles will be excluded from the area between 8am and 7pm on October 19-21, between 10am and 11pm on October 22, 9am and 9pm on October 23 and 8am and 5pm on October 24.

The Hollow Crown is based on William Shakespeare's history plays, and is one of the BBC's flagship dramas.

The first cycle was an adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard II, Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II (treated as one film in two parts in the series) and Henry V and starred Ben Whishaw, Jeremy Irons and Tom Hiddleston, and scooped a handful of awards from the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, Broadcasting Press Guild and BAFTA.

The second cycle, which includes Henry VI (in two parts) and Richard III – is being co-produced by Neal Street Productions with Carnival Films/NBC Universal and Thirteen.



Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/History-comes-life-stars-head-west/story-23070409-detail/story.html#ixzz3FnXa1yYl 
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HEADING TO PBS: This First Look At Benedict Cumberbatch In 'The Hollow Crown' Is Everything

HUFF POST TV
By Bill Bradley

Thanks to the BAFTA award-winning "The Hollow Crown" series in 2012, you can expect three more adaptations of Shakespeare’s "History" plays from Neal Street Productions and Carnival Films/NBCUniversal, with "Henry VI" in two parts and also "Richard III," according to BBC. The star-studded cast includes Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Sophie Okonedo, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Keeley Hawes and Tom Sturridge.

Though an air date hasn't been set, the series will be shown on PBS in the U.S. and BBC2 in the U.K.

 

READ MORE HERE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/02/benedict-cumberbatch-the-hollow-crown_n_5920754.html

Andrew Scott joins Benedict Cumberbatch in The Hollow Crown

DIGITAL SPY
By Mayer Nissim
Wednesday, Oct 1 2014, 8:28am EDT
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The Moriarty actor will play King Louis in the channel's upcoming adaptations of Shakespeare's Henry VI and Richard III, which star Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard III.

Also newly confirmed for the cast are Michael Gambon as Mortimer, Philip Glenister as Talbot, Adrian Dunbar as Plantagenet and Ben Daniels as Buckingham.

They are joined by previously-announced actors Judi Dench, Sophie Okonedo, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Keeley Hawes and Tom Sturridge.

BBC Two is working on three films as part of this second Hollow Crown series of Shakespeare's historical plays: Richard III and Henry VI in two parts.

Dominic Cooke directs all three films, Ben Power has adapted the plays for the screen and Rupert Ryle-Hodges will produce.


Read more: http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/news/a600460/andrew-scott-joins-benedict-cumberbatch-in-the-hollow-crown.html#~oRu1i51Q5o6Nrk#ixzz3EwA8pLEW
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First look at Benedict Cumberbatch in The Hollow Crown

RADIO TIMES
By Susanna Lazarus
Tuesday 23 September 2014 at 11:55AM



After spending the last two years building a bonafide movie career – alongside his stints as Sherlock – Benedict Cumberbatch is now looking to Shakespeare.
He's already sold out theatres more than twelve months in advance of his appearance as Hamlet in 2015 but, in the meantime, he's taking on another Shakespearean character – Richard III – in BBC2's second cycle of The Hollow Crown.

 

Nicky‏@SherlocksBees

**HOLLOW CROWN SPOILERS** I just need these HERE pic.twitter.com/ItAAPLaSwx

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The production – which begun filming in the UK yesterday – requires Cumberbatch to employ his horse-riding skills and to sport some shaggy locks as Shakespeare's hunch-backed monarch.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-09-23/first-look-at-benedict-cumberbatch-in-the-hollow-crown

Keeley Hawes: TV's toughest detective

LONDON EVENING STANDARD
STEPHEN ARMSTRONG
Published: 18 September 2014



One of the downsides to being Keeley Hawes is getting pulled over by the police. At the end of last year, for instance, she was buying a burrito in Covent Garden when a burly squad in full blue serge piled out of a riot-proofed patrol van to confront her.

‘It looked like I was a major terrorist,’ she laughs. ‘But then they said, “Can we get a picture?” They all got out their handcuffs and posed. Eventually one said, “Come on, we’re going to lose our jobs.” ’ She laughs again. ‘Having said that, this was after Ashes to Ashes and before Line of Duty. I wonder what would happen now…’

It’s easy to see why the boys in blue love Keeley — she’s been adding glamour to the force as Zoe Reynolds in Spooks, Alex ‘Bollyknickers’ Drake in Ashes to Ashes and DSI Martha Lawson in ITV’s Identity. However, as the twisted, lonely DI Lindsay Denton in Line of Duty… well, not so much.

Line of Duty is all about dodgy cops — Jed Mercurio’s internal investigations thriller follows a fictional anti-corruption unit. Denton was its target in this year’s second season, suspected of having set up her colleagues in a fatal ambush. As suspicions mounted, Denton was bogwashed and beaten up by fellow officers, thrown in jail where wardens and inmates did the same, all along protesting her innocence and uncovering even bigger scandals. In terms of water-cooler moments, Line of Duty ranks alongside The Honourable Woman and The Fall as part of the new wave of Brit TV that’s finally making US producers jealous again.

And Hawes — like Maggie Gyllenhaal and Gillian Anderson in Woman and The Fall — was a revelation. She evoked such energy and raw emotion that even the disparaging TV critic AA Gill has put her among our best actresses, alongside Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Today, however, she’s just a 38-year-old Londoner. We meet at an outdoor restaurant near Richmond Park on one of the last sunny days of summer. She rummages through the menu, wondering about the healthy options. ‘I’ve got a shoot in a minute,’ she explains, before quickly adding, ‘I don’t feel the pressure any more, though. I honestly don’t give a shit. Two days of dieting isn’t going to happen. I have a ten-year-old daughter and I’ve got far too much responsibility to be seen to be picking around with bits of food.’

Who knew Keeley Hawes was a laugh? Any fears of an ice queen quickly melt away as she riffs on her Marylebone upbringing — riding around her council estate on the back of her brother’s Chopper, playing run-outs, and her mum shouting, ‘Dinner!’ across the blocks. Her dad and her two older brothers are cab drivers and she grew up near the Lisson Grove Estate, in a block that’s since become luxury flats.

If her accent seems a little crisp for a cabbie’s daughter, she points out, ‘I came from Central London, I wasn’t Cockney — my mother made sure we put the Ts on the end of words, and then I went to drama school.’ She pauses. ‘I do sound slightly posher, but listen, I’ve just been working with Tom Hiddleston and I feel very, very London talking to him.’

Next up there’s The Hollow Crown, the second part of the BBC’s ambitious attempt to screen all of Shakespeare’s history plays. She’s playing Queen Elizabeth in Henry VI part 2 and Richard III, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and, terrifyingly, Judi Dench. ‘I haven’t done Shakespeare and I’ve told them I can’t do Shakespeare and they still employed me.’ She seems amazed. ‘We’re rehearsing and I feel like I’m in safe hands, but still… I mean, I’ll be doing it with Judi Dench…’

She trails off, looking genuinely worried, so I leaf through my notes, pull out the AA Gill quote comparing her to Dench and read it to her: ‘Hawes is one of a number of very good female actors we have, from Judi Dench and Maggie Smith down,’ I read. She is momentarily stunned, then her face flushes a deep, deep crimson and she stares at her hands.

‘Well, that’s ridiculous,’ she mumbles. ‘I mean, I don’t even know what to say about that…’ and then she thinks it through. ‘Although he doesn’t say exactly how far down, does he?’ and she looks up, her impish grin returning. ‘I’d say it was fairly far down — but I’d still put that in a frame…’ When it’s time for her to leave, I make a joke about her receiving an honour to match Maggie and Judi and she turns back briefly — ‘Dame Keeley…? I can’t quite hear a copper calling me that.’

Doctor Who is on BBC One Saturday night at 7.30pm


READ MORE HERE: http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/keeley-hawes-tvs-toughest-detective-9739507.html

Dame Judi Dench: Benedict Cumberbatch is a true gentleman

TELEGRAPH
Tim Walker. Edited by Katy Balls
7:30AM BST 18 Sep 2014




Dame Judi Dench agreed to star opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC's Richard III after the Sherlock actor propositioned her during a Shakespeare masterclass at the Hay Festival. However, Mandrake can disclose that the pair are in fact old friends.

“I knew him when he was a little boy at prep school before he went on to Harrow," Dame Judi tells me. "His mother, Wanda Ventham, was at the Royal Central School of Drama a year ahead of me.”

“He is a true gentleman and a thoroughly good actor, which helps,” she says. “We start on Monday and it’s a huge project, six months in filming.”

Meanwhile, the actress says it is unlikely she will attend the Oscars next year. Despite being nominated for the Best Actress award, Dame Judi Dench was notably absent at this year’s awards after filming in India for the sequel to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel clashed with the ceremony. Now, the actress, who turns 80 this year, confides that she is in no hurry to make an appearance.

“No, I don’t think I’ll attend,” she tells me. “I don’t imagine so.”


READ MORE HERE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11102811/Dame-Judi-Dench-says-Sherlock-actor-Benedict-Cumberbatch-is-a-true-gentleman.html

Martin Freeman: Director drops goldfish from West End production of Richard III after accusations of animal cruelty

THE LONDON EVENING STANDARD
RACHEL BLUNDY
12 September, 2014

 

Theatre bosses working on a production of Shakespeare's Richard III starring actor Martin Freeman have dropped live goldfish from the show after accusations of animal cruelty.

A person in the audience at Trafalgar Studios in London's West End is said to have complained about the treatment of goldfish in the play to animal rights campaigners at PETA.

In a press release issued this morning, the charity said: "[The woman] reported that from her vantage point, it appeared that the fish was "ground up with the gravel and pushed up against the sides of the tank" when a cast member submerged himself in the tank and 'thrashed around wildly"".

The controversial scene sees the Duke of Clarence drowned in a bowl of live goldfish on the orders of his younger brother Richard, who wants to take the crown ahead of him.

PETA subsequently called on director Jamie Lloyd to remove live goldfish from the production, saying their use "puts the animal at risk of injury and even death".

.@peta You've declined to see #RichardIII. The goldfish are thriving & well looked after. But, as a vegan, I've followed your recommendation

— Jamie Lloyd (@lloydjamie) September 12, 2014

Announcing its decision to follow the charity's advice, the play's producers insisted in a statement this afternoon that the "safety and welfare" of the goldfish had remained a "top priority".


READ MORE HERE: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/director-drops-goldfish-from-west-end-production-of-richard-iii-after-accusations-of-animal-cruelty-9729888.html