History Theatre / RichardIII

* OpenSHirtTaunt: n the original text, the stage directions explicitly say Richard "layes his brest open" [sic] - that is, he opens his shirt/jerkin for Anne to run him through with his sword, which he has given her for the express purpose after she says she wants to see him dead. (In the 1995 film adaptation of the scene, the title character does this after giving her a dagger.) She doesn't go through with it.

* MagnificentBastard: Richard.

[[InWhichATropeIsDescribed In Which]] [[RichardOfGloucester Richard, Duke of Gloucester]], decides to become king by Being Extremely Evil. It works pretty well until it doesn't.

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* AgeLift: In various productions, he's been played by 47-year-old BasilRathbone, 48-year-old LaurenceOlivier, 51-year-old VincentPrice, 46-year-old PeterCook[[hottip:*:(it's ''{{Blackadder}}'' but it still counts)]], 56-year-old IanMcKellen, and also 56-year-old AlPacino. It should be noted that Richard was only ''33'' when he died at the battle of Bosworth Field, and only five years older than his usurper, HenryVII, who, unlike Richard, is usually played by a reasonably young actor. Then again, Shakespeare's Richard starts appearing in the ''HenryVI'' plays, as an adult, at a time when the historical Richard would have been a toddler, so playing him as older even in his own play makes a certain amount of sense.

** What Margaret did to Richard's father (Richard of York)[[hottip:*: which was to give him a rag soaked in the blood of his own son, Rutland.]] is treated as a MoralEventHorizon by everyone. Yes, even Richard.[[invoked]]

->''Now is the winter of our discontent''
->''Made glorious summer by this son of York.''

* EvilCripple

* FreudianExcuse: Freud argued that Richard does what he does because he is ugly, giving that trope its name.

* ManipulativeBastard: Richard.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: Unsurprisingly, considering it's part of a teratology on the War of the Roses. Regardless of their portrayal, pretty much everyone in the play's done something heinous, whether it be in the previous installments or this play. The only characters that are unambiguous their morality are The Little Princes and Richmond (unambiguously good) and Richard himself (unambiguously evil).

* BlackAndGreyMorality: Unsurprisingly, considering it's part of a teratology on the War of the Roses. Pretty much everyone in the play's done something heinous, whether it be in the previous installments or this play. The only characters that are unambiguous their morality are The Little Princes and Richmond (unambiguously good) and Richard himself (unambiguously evil).

* BlackAndGreyMorality: Unsurprisingly, considering it's part of a teratology of the War of the Roses. Pretty much everyone in the play's done something heinous. The only characters that are unambiguous their morality are The Little Princes and Richmond (unambiguously good) and Richard himself (unambiguously evil).

** C.S. Lewis wrote in an essay on the English language that that was actually [[HaveAGayOldTime a mistake in usage]]. Villain at the time meant "commoner"; and by pejorative extension "ruffian" (kind of like the word "redneck" in America). So it could be interpreted as, "If everyone thinks I'm just a common thug, by golly I'll show them how [[{{Badass}} scary a thug ]] I can be". Interpret that thought how you will.
*** To clarify, "villain" (meaning bad guy) and "villein" with an E instead of an A (meaning peasant) are for the record totally different words with totally different meanings, as above stated. Poor C.S. Lewis.

* SupportingLeader: Averted, by making Richmond the battlefield commander at Bosworth Field. In RealLife he wisely confined himself to politicking and left the fighting to his crack general, the Earl of Oxford, whose descendent, ironically, [[EpilepticTrees has been speculated to have been the true author of Shakespeare's plays]] (though the previous Earl's minute part in the play can be taken as evidence against the Oxfordian theory).

* EvillyAffable: Richard. To the point where in a recent production, the audience was enjoined to chant his name to get him to take up the throne at the public urgings of Buckingham. The fact that he likes breaking the fourth wall to point out exactly what a [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bastard]] he is only adds to the allure.

** In this version, Edward IV is heavily implied to be [[TheHouseOfWindsor Edward VIII]], while his wife Elizabeth and the rest of the Woodvilles are played by Americans, suggesting Wallis Simpson. The Earl of Richmond and Princess Elizabeth rather resemble Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

* AWorldwidePunomenon: The opening lines are a pun on "Sun of York" (the commonly used symbol of the Yorkists, more so than the White Rose) and Richard describing himself as a "son of York".
** I think he's referring to his brother King Edward when he talks about the "son of York".

Once Richard murders his wife so that he might marry his niece, the remaining non-villainous members of the cast finally DO manage to notice the pattern and band together under some guy who hasn't even appeared in the play yet, and, with a night before assist from the ghosts of everyone Richard has had killed, successfully kill Richard in battle and install Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond, on the throne. The play is decidedly slanted against Richard -- for one thing, though it seems he did have some kind of noticeable deformity, it was certainly minor and in no way disabling, and for another, so far as we know the real Richard didn't run around delivering cool monologues about what a {{magnificent bastard}} he was. The play is even more slanted ''for'' Henry Tudor -- that is, what little we actually see of him, since he only turns up in the final act.

** C.S. Lewis wrote in an essay on the English language that that was actually [[HaveAGayOldTime a mistake in usage]]. Villain at the time meant "commoner"; and by pejorative extension "ruffian" (kind of like the word "redneck" in America). So it could be interpreted as, "If everyone thinks I'm just a common thug, by golly I'll show them how [[{{Badass}} scary a thug ]] I can be". Interpret that thought [[YourMileageMayVary how you will]].

With the possible exception of ''{{The Taming of the Shrew}}'', this is the earliest-written of {{William Shakespeare}}'s plays to still be commonly performed today.

Trivial note: For all of the eighteenth and much of the nineteenth century, any ''Richard III'' performed on stage was not Shakespeare's, but a reworking penned by ColleyCibber, which included only about 800 of the original's 3600 lines, excised several characters (including Clarence and Queen Margaret), and added a large amount of new material.

This page is exclusively concerned with the play by Shakespeare. For the historical Richard III, please see [[RichardOfGloucester Richard of Gloucester]].

* TheAragorn: Averted, by making Richmond the battlefield commander at Bosworth Field. In RealLife he wisely confined himself to politicking and left the fighting to his crack general, the Earl of Oxford, whose descendent, ironically, [[EpilepticTrees has been speculated to have been the true author of Shakespeare's plays]] (though the previous Earl's minute part in the play can be taken as evidence against the Oxfordian theory).