Richard III SocietyTo access this folder, select the keyword Exchange. Click on the Interests and Hobbies icon, then select General Special Interests and use the cursor to move to Richard III.
Maxwell Anderson was a dominant force in the American theater for more than two decades, and when he died on February 28, 1959, he left behind twenty unfinished or unpublished plays. One of the unpublished works was Richard and Anne, a two-act verse play about Richard III and Anne Neville, his wife.
Published for the first time here, Richard and Anne is actually two plays within a play, as the characters from Shakespeare's Richard III are affected by contemporary characters (e.g., the stage manager, the director, and the producer), and all the characters--contemporary and Shakespearean--are influenced to some extent by the historical characters of Richard and Anne. Throughout, the accepted "truth" in Shakespeare's plays is challenged by the historical truth of Richard and Anne's real story. The ending of Richard and Anne, as in so many of Anderson's plays, is pessimistic, but not hopeless. Richard III will be performed again, most will accept the Bard's version of the truth, but there will always be a few who will challenge it. In time they might even prevail, and for Maxwell Anderson, the lover of lost causes, were he here today, this might be enough.
The work is complemented by Roxane C. Murph's lengthy introduction which sets Richard and Anne in the context of Anderson's other plays. The two letters from fellow playwright Robert Sherwood provide contemporary criticism of this play.
Roxane C. Murph is a former chairperson of the
American Branch
of the Richard III Society. She lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
What was it that gave delight in medieval England? Professor Reeves presents a fascinating and highly readable survey of the entertainments and pursuits with which people of the time filled their leisure hours. From the rough-and-tumble of wrestling and jousting to the more sedate pastimes of chess and cards, from gardening to prostitution and from cock-fighting to religious festivals the book describes with entertaining detail activities of which many remain popular today, though often in different guises. Nor does the author neglect the aesthetic pleasures to be had from painting, literature, jewelry, music and the arts.
With its many beautiful illustrations, several in colour, this book offers a sumptuous overview of the delights of medieval life, providing both an eye-opener for scholars and an extremely attractive introduction for the general reader to the pleasures of life in England over five hundred years ago.
Published by Alan Sutton; available from our sales office.
A. Compton Reeves, professor of history, Ohio University, is chairman of the American Branch.