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Actors don’t need to share the ‘lived experience’ of their characters.The Globe Theatre in London has come under fire for a supposedly controversial casting choice. Last week, it was announced that Michelle Terry, who is also the Globe’s artistic director, would be taking on the titular role in Shakespeare’s Richard III later this summer. Outrage immediately ensued. Because according to identitarian activists, Terry doesn’t have the ‘lived experience’ needed to play the scheming king.Certainly, there are some pretty glaring differences between Michelle Terry and Richard III. For one thing, Terry is a woman and Richard, obviously, was a man. But...

In Shakespeare's Richard III, the doomed young Prince, about to be sent to the Tower by Richard, his guardian, says that "Methinks the truth should live from age to age / As 'twere retailed to all posterity / Even to the general all-ending day." To which Richard, already planning his next move, mutters "So wise so young, they say, do never live long." No one denies the value of truth, not even Shakespeare's villainous Richard, and even as we struggle to find it in a world flooded with information and opinion. I can't tell you where you'll find the truth...

As part of its annual “Broadway’s Best” lineup, Great Performances raises the curtain this spring on Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of “Richard III “ Premiering Friday, May 19 at 9 Starring Danai Gurira (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “The Walking Dead”) in the title role

Last spring, York's Guildhall found itself in dire straits. Water dripped from the 15th-century meeting hall's ceiling, and cracks in one of its walls were so large that visitors could stick a hand straight through them, reported David Dunning for local radio station Minster FM at the time. That fall, the local government launched a £16.5-million construction project aimed at restoring the historic building -- which has stood on the banks of the River Ouse in the northeastern English city for more than 500 years -- to its former glory. But the work has revealed more than just dilapidated walls:...

...One of the most disputed stories of extreme age belongs to a 17th century man named Thomas Parr, who claimed to be 152 years old at the time of his death... Most of what historians know about the life of Tom Parr comes from John Taylor’s pamphlet, published the year of Parr’s death, “The old, old, very old man or the age and very long life of Thomas Parr.” Parr lived most of his life as a farm laborer in the county of Shropshire, and married his first wife when he was 80 years old... Parr, at some point, started...

The dental record reveals that Richard III had no congenitally missing teeth, in sharp contrast to the 'bones in the urn', where both skulls are said to present this genetic anomaly. Previously it has been argued that this feature provided strong evidence of the royal identity of the 'bones in the urn'. It was claimed that the 'Princes' inherited their missing teeth from their grandmother, Cecily, Duchess of York. But Dr Ashdown-Hill's latest discovery strongly suggests that the 'bones in the urn' are not related to Cecily's son, Richard III, who was a first degree relative of the 'Princes'. Scientific...

Credit: University of Leicester. This model of King Richard III’s grave shows the king’s remains in-situ shortly after their discovery by University of Leicester archaeologists beneath a car park in Leicester in 2012. The model has been generated using Agisoft’s Photoscan from photographs taken during the excavation. If you would like to learn more about the search for King Richard III please visit www.le.ac.uk/richardiii.

He was one of the nation’s most notorious monarchs in life, and Richard III is still creating controversy more than 500 years after his death. Genetic analysis of a skeleton discovered beneath a car park in Leicester three years ago has confirmed it did indeed belong to the last Plantagenet king. Much more intriguingly, it held a secret that could shake the foundations of the Tudor dynasty. The genetic discovery even raises a question mark over the current Queen’s royal heritage. DNA analysis revealed that one of Richard III’s male relatives was cuckolded - leading to his wife giving birth...

IT'S REMARKABLE what five centuries can do for a guy's reputation. When Richard III, the last Plantaganet king of England, was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, his corpse was stripped and hauled in disgrace through the streets of Leicester, "all besprinkled with mire and blood … a miserable spectacle," as Holinshed's Chronicle recounted. Then it was stuffed into a crude grave, naked and coffinless, while "few lamented and many rejoiced." This week, the medieval king, whose bones were found under a parking lot in 2012, will be reburied in Leicester Cathedral with full reverence and honor....

A Requiem Mass in the traditional Latin form is to be offered at a Catholic church in Lancashire to mark the reinterment of King Richard III, which will take place on the same day at Leicester’s Anglican cathedral. The mortal remains of Richard III, who died in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, before the Reformation, will be reinterred in the cathedral on March 26, in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury and an invited congregation. The Requiem Mass for the repose of Richard III’s soul will be held on the same day St Catherine’s Church, in Leyland, Lancashire,...

Petition is organised by historians whose efforts led to the discovery of the king's remainsThree thousand people have signed a petition calling for Richard III to be given a Catholic burial. The petition, addressed to Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, is being organised by the historians whose efforts led to the king’s remains being found under a car park in Leicester. Under present plans Richard III, who died in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, before the Reformation, will be buried at the Anglican cathedral in Leicester on March 26. But Philippa Langley, leader of the Looking for...

Thanks to the careful work of archaeologists, we learned more in the past year about Stonehenge's hidden monuments, Richard III's gruesome death and King Tut's mummified erection. From the discovery of an ancient tomb in Greece to the first evidence of Neanderthal art, here are 10 of Live Science's favorite archaeology stories of 2014. 1. An Alexander the Great-era tomb at Amphipolis [snip] 2. Stonehenge's secret monuments [snip] 3. A shipwreck under the World Trade Center [snip] 4. Richard III's twisted spine, kingly diet and family tree [snip] 5. A teenager in a "black hole" [snip] 6. Syria by satellite...

Analysis of DNA from Richard III has thrown up a surprise: evidence of infidelity in his family tree. Scientists who studied genetic material from remains found in a Leicester car park say the finding might have profound historical implications. Depending on where in the family tree it occurred, it could cast doubt on the Tudor claim to the English throne or, indeed, on Richard's. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. But the scientists would not be drawn on what meaning it might have - if any - for the current Royal Family, as it was still unknown...

Bone chemistry sheds light on the monarch's shifting diet throughout his brief life Richard III was only 32 years old when he was struck down at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. But according to new research, the King of England at least enjoyed some good eating throughout his life—especially in the few years leading up to his death. Scientists from the British Geological Survey and the University of Leicester analyzed Richard III's teeth, his femur and his ribs to see what they could reveal about the monarch's diet, Phys.org reports. They used isotope analysis to identify chemical signatures...

Richard III's last moments were likely quick but terrifying, according to a new study of the death wounds of the last king of England to die in battle. The last king of the Plantagenet dynasty faced his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field on Aug. 22, 1485, only two years after ascending the throne. The battle was the deciding clash in the long-running Wars of the Roses, and ended with the establishment of Henry Tudor as the new English monarch. But Richard III's last moments were the stuff of legend alone, as the king's body was lost until September...

The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury will both be taking part in services in Leicester Cathedral to mark the reinterment of King Richard III, it has been announced. This means the most senior clergy of both the Church of England and the Catholic Church in the country will be present as the former monarch is laid to rest during a week of events from 22nd - 28th March next year. Since the discovery of the body of Richard III in 2012, the Anglican Diocese of Leicester and the Catholic Diocese of Nottingham have worked closely to...

Professor Michael Hicks, an expert on Richard III and professor of history at Winchester University, is cited saying he is not convinced that the car park remains are those of the Yorkist monarch, arguing that they could just as well belong to one of many other victims of the Wars of the Roses, and that evidence from DNA testing and radiocarbon dating cited to bolster the claims that Richard had been found places the bones at somewhere between 1450 and 1540, and thus is not specific enough to pin down an exact date. Therefore it can’t be relied upon to...

What a treat for all medieval historians! More than 500 years after he was killed, the skeleton of Richard III is giving them much more reliable biographical information than they acquired over the previous half a millennium. Henry VII, his successor, and opponent at Bosworth, encouraged his court historians to produce a warped picture of Richard. Thank God, then, for the miraculous discovery of his body in a Leicester car park in 2012, and the undeniable truths it provided. Analysis of his skeleton showed the king didn’t have a hunchback exactly; he suffered from scoliosis of the spine, meaning his...

Not only was Richard III one of England’s most despised monarchs, but it now turns out the hunchback king was probably infected with parasitic worms that grew up to a foot in length. Researchers who dug up Richard III’s skeleton underneath a parking lot in Leicester last year now report they discovered numerous roundworm eggs in the soil around his pelvis, where his intestines would have been. They compared that to soil samples taken close to Richard’s skull and surrounding his grave. There were no eggs near the skull and only traces of eggs in the soil near the grave....

Descendants of Richard III won a court battle on Friday over where to bury the medieval monarch, whose bones were found under a car park last year, but were urged not to embark on a legal version of the Wars of the Roses in which the king died. In one of the most remarkable archaeological finds in English history, a skeleton with a cleaved skull and a curved spine was formally identified as Richard's remains by DNA testing in February this year. Depicted by William Shakespeare as a deformed tyrant who murdered his two young nephews to strengthen his grip...