Richard III is the final play in a trilogy called
The Wars of the Roses adapted from Shakespeare’s three
Henry VI plays and
Richard III by Barrie Rutter, founder and artistic director of Northern Broadsides. Sue Andrews, the current general manager of the Company, explains
who are Northern Broadsides and one of the Company’s long-standing actors, Andy Cryer explains that part of the attraction of working for the Company is, for him, that “
you get to speak in your own voice.”
The origins of Northern Broadsides lie in Barrie Rutter’s experiences as an actor with the RSC in the 80’s. Rutter suspected that at that time, in Britain’s leading classical theatre company, an actor like himself who spoke naturally with a pronounced regional accent (Rutter is a Yorkshireman and speaks like one) would never be cast in the role of a King in Shakespeare. Northern Broadsides was founded by Rutter 15 years ago as a company based in the North of England and proud of its Northern identity and roots in working class culture. For much of that time he had been
drawn to these plays and harboured an ambition to act in and direct them. In 2006 he finally got his opportunity.
