Princes Kill

Princes Kill

Saskatoon Shakespeare Lab
One Night Only:  June 1, 2017, 7:30 p.m.

at the Refinery, 609 Dufferin
a pay-what-you-can benefit for the Actors’ Fund of Canada

Adapted by Johnna Wright from Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays
Directed by Skye Brandon
Featuring Kevin Williamson, Josh Ramsden, Elizabeth Nepjuk, Kent Allen, Aaron Hursh, Skye Brandon, Rob van Meenen, Lisa Bayliss, Jacob Yaworski, Anna Mazurik, Bruce McKay, Charlie Peters, Kate Herriot, Torien Cafferata, Kristina Hughes

“Sword, hold thy temper; Heart, be wrathful still:
Priests pray for enemies, but Princes kill.”

I’m excited to see this play have its first public reading.

Princes Kill examines what happens when a power vacuum at the top (the weak Henry VI) causes chaos and ultimately allows for the rise of the sociopath (Richard III).  We see how the closest friends and supporters of Henry V wind up turning on one another as each pursues a personal agenda after Henry’s untimely death.  When the bloodbath is over, the Yorkists are left in control of a kingdom that has been all but destroyed – an island of white in an ocean of blood.

To me, it’s about what people will do in pursuit of power; about the difference between winning a crown and governing a country.