Production Description

Production Information:

Our all-female Richard III was produced with the support and in association with the Wales Millennium Centre and was made possible through Arts Council of Wales investment, 72 backers through a Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaign (link to page of people who pledged) and the support of Volcano Theatre Company, Frantic Assembly, Chapter Cardiff, The Sherman Theatre and RSC recommended practitioners.

Omidaze received large scale funding from the Arts Council of Wales to research and develop and then produce a production of Shakespeare which challenged preconceived ideas around roles in Shakespeare and about how and where Shakespeare should be staged and who it is for. We worked towards an all-female Shakespeare production using movement and non-traditional staging methods which would appeal to a family audience. We specifically aimed to engage a non-traditional theatre/Shakespeare audience including those from areas of acknowledged deprivation. We simultaneously examined cross-gender and blind-gender casting options, their potential and their impact and site-specific options for the future production and marketing possibilities.

Technical Specification:

Richard III was a site-specific promenade immersive production and was the first ever full scale production to be staged in the roof void of the Wales Millennium Centre.

Running Time 3 hours with an interval.

Ensemble:

• Jessica Hayles
• Lynn Hunter
• Polly Kilpatrick
• Ana-Maria Maskell
• Bethan Morgan
• Mairi Phillips
• Vanessa Faye-Stanley
• Alice White

Creative & Production Team:

• Director & Producer: Yvonne Murphy
• Voice & Text Coach: Jacqui Crago
• Designer: Gabrielle Slade
• Lighting Designer: El Higgins
• Sound Designer: Tic Ashfield
• Movement Director: June Campbell-Davies
• Production Manager: El Higgins
• Stage Manager: Louise Rouse
• ASM: Carys McIver
• Design Assistant: Charlotte Canning-Jones
• Design Assistant: Anna Kelsey
• Publicity & Engagement: Rachel Kinchin
• Arts management Student Placement: Lucy Price

Performance / Tour Details:

February 2015 Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff supported by Arts Council of Wales

All-Female Richard III Timeline:

Phase 1 – 2013 – R&D funded by Arts Council of Wales 2013

Omidaze Productions held a week of free Shakespeare workshops for female actors with experience of and/or an interest in performing Shakespeare and physical approaches to text held at The Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff.

Phase 2 – 2013 – R&D funded by Arts Council of Wales

From these workshops Director Yvonne Murphy built an all-female Ensemble company to develop the project working with practitioners from Volcano & Frantic Assembly and RSC recommended practitioners at Sherman Cymru and Chapter Arts Centre.

A sharing of work-in-progress took place on Friday 29th November 2013 at Chapter Arts Centre to a test bed audience and future promoters.

Phase 3 – 2014 – Kickstarter campaign supported by The Royal Society of the Arts

Phase 4 – 2015 All-Female Production of Richard III Supported by Arts Council of Wales, Wales Millennium Centre.

Production and Rehearsal Photography Kirsten McTernan @KMTPhotographer