“Gloucester’s show Beguiles him as the mournful crocodile With sorrow, snares relenting passengers” — Henry IV, Part II

Source: Jordan O’Brien Illustration 

Richard III produced and directed by Laurence Olivier.

laphamsquarterly:

It’s really him! Misunderstood monarch Richard III, found under a parking lot.

NY Times:

Shakespeare told the king’s story in “Richard III,” depicting him as an evil, scheming hunchback whose death at 32 ended the War of the Roses and more than three centuries of Plantagenet rule, bookended England’s Middle Ages, and proved a prelude to the triumphs of the Tudors and Elizabethans.

In Shakespeare’s account, Richard was killed after being unhorsed on the battlefield, crying: “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.”

Poster advertising Viola Tree’s Company performing ‘The Tempest’ by William Shakespeare at the Aldwych Theatre, London - Charles A Buchel (1872-1950) - Designed in 1904, Printed in 1921

Dust off your old Elizabethan English dictionary and you’ll see that “wood” – as in forest – meant “mad” back in Shakespeare’s day. Enter Shakespeare’s enchanted forests of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “As You Like It” and see all the comedy (or madness) that ensues.

Richard II on Shakespeare Uncovered.

William Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors - Komedia omylek Original Polosh Theatre Poster