YORK Mystery Plays, Opera North and BBC actor and voiceover artist Mark Burghagen's short film, The Sacred King: Shakespeare's Richard II At Pontefract, will be shown at the pop-up Dogrose Theatre, upstairs at 14 Pavement, York on Sunday.
Directed by Yvonne Morley, of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Rose Theatre, Burghagen performs Richard II's final soliloquy, filmed at the historic site of the king's death at Pontefract Castle, here accompanied by music by Shakespeare's contemporary, Renaissance composer John Dowland, performed by John Potter and lutenist Jacob Heringman.
Crowned at the age of ten, crushed the Peasant’s Revolt, humiliated by his council and deposed by his own cousin, the former King Richard II finds himself imprisoned at Pontefract Castle. After falling from the heights of glorious majesty to the bottom of society, he comes to terms with his own humanity in "the prison speech", taken from the beginning of Act 5, Scene 5 of Richard II.
Burghagen previously performed the speech in York company Bronzehead Theatre's staging of Shakespeare's history play, under the direction of Tom Straszewski, at Pontefract Castle in summer 2015.
The 5pm screening forms part of the 2019 York International Shakespeare Festival and will be followed by a Q&A, chaired by Rosemary Alexander-Jones from the University of York. Pay-what-you-feel tickets can be booked on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
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