The War of the RosesRichard III Weeks 1 – 3 On Monday morning, 23 January 2006, in an attic rehearsal room at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Barrie Rutter, founder and director of Northern Broadsides stood at the centre of a circle made up of 20 seated actors. This wasthe company who, together with him, were about to embark on the most ambitious project in Broadside’s 15-year history: three plays adapted from Shakespeare’s rarely-performed trilogy Henry VI, plus the more familiar Richard III. Rutter began by introducing everyone by name and then told the following story which, as a young actor, he had first heard from the legendary theatre director Peter Brook: A theatrical story A group of Samurai horsemen are galloping across a barren, snow-covered plain. They ride dun-coloured horses and are dressed in dun-coloured clothes. They draw near to the looming shape of the sacred Mount Fuji, and pause briefly at a small stream that meanders through the snow. One rider looks in awe at the simple beauty of the landscape, and says to their leader “Master, it is perfect”. The Master does not reply but takes out his sword and in one swift motion cuts off the speaker’s head causing it to roll onto the snow; a stream of red blood stains the carpet of white. The Master wipes his sword and replaces it before saying to the silent troupe, “Now it is perfect”. Why did Rutter tell this story at the start of rehearsals? Perhaps in part because he wanted the company to understand that the aesthetic of their production would be to strive, as he put it, to “starve the retina before feeding it”. In other words, to be aware in rehearsal that the impact of their work on an audience will be magnified and amplified when the drama is interrupted by the sudden and unexpected event or moment, and that this experience is more keenly felt if it is not signalled in advance or continuously present. Drama thrives on contrast. Another possible reason for this particular narrative was the subject matter of the forthcoming eight weeks of rehearsal: Rutter’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 1, 2, and 3 followed by Richard IIIwhich he (like the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s) has entitled The Wars of the Roses. The roses in the title were, of course, the white rose of York, and the red rose of Lancaster. Much blood flowed in those wars as chronicled by Shakespeare.  Barry Rutter watching rehearsals. | | |
