College performance of Shakespeares Richard III incorporates discovery of the Kings remains
A contemporary take on Shakespeare's Richard III which includes scenes depicting University archaeologists is to be performed today (Friday 11 March).
Youngsters from Eltham College, in Mottingham, south east London, will stage the classic Bard's tale and include sequences from the University's remarkable Greyfriars project. A cast of 22 students aged between 14 and 18-years-old will don medieval dress as well as modern day costumes, transforming them into archaeologists, to deliver their take on the classic 17th century play.
The purpose built set includes a replica of the coffin used to rebury the Plantagenet monarch, the council car park where the bones were unearthed in the summer of 2012, and the University's Fielding Johnson Building where the king's identity was confirmed during a gripping press conference in February 2013.
It comes as the University prepares to mark the one year anniversary of the reinterment which took place at Leicester Cathedral on Thursday 26 March.
The college's new version includes seven modern day scenes, titled Prologue, Discovery, Removal, Analysis, Confirmation, Reburial and Epilogue. They cover every aspect of the Greyfriar's project from the moment Richard's skeleton is first uncovered to the global press conference, where the skeleton's regal identity was announced to the world.