Shakespeare's Kings. Murder Kills based on William Shakespeare (Programme 2015)

Translation: Frank Günther

Stage Adaptation: Grit van Dyk, Johanna Schall

Director: Johanna Schall

Stage, Costumes: Heike Neugebauer

Starring: Tobias Dürr, Rune Jürgensen, Ulrike Knospe, Michael Meyer, Erik Roßbander, Petra-Janina Schultz

Duration: 2.5 hours including a break

Prices: A

Admission 45 minutes before the beginning of the performance

The Bremer Shakespeare Company slightly different:

King Edward III from England has seven sons. His first-born, also named Edward, dies in battle and so, his son Richard becomes his successor to the throne. This Richard II wants to subdue Ireland.

He desperately needs money for this endeavour so he simply expropriates his cousin Henry's property who, in turn, arrests, dethrones and ultimately kills the former king, crowning himself as king instead. Henceforth he, Henry IV, is King of England. His plan to organise crusades to Jerusalem fails and after he dies an unhappy, yet nonetheless natural, death, his son “tentatively“ takes over the crown. Henry V leads a successful war with France and finally the power relations in the king's court seem to have stablised. Yet Henry V prematurely dies and his son and successor is not cut out for the throne: with a weakness for gambling and religious rituals, he relinquishes the governing to others. In England, entire families are at war with each other and kill one another. Edward IV conquers the throne but he is murdered by his brother Richard who has a hunchback and a crippled leg. This Richard III provides the satire play which is followed by the long history of the Tudors whose poet is Shakespeare.

North Rhein-Westphalian Premiere