RICHARD II Cast Gears Up for October Opening at RSC

From BroadwayWorld.com Posted September 19, 2013:

Rehearsals are well underway for a star-studded production of RICHARD II that opens at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon on 10 October. The highly anticipated production, which sold out months in advance of the opening, marks Gregory Doran's inaugural production as Artistic Director. 

The historical play brings together some of Britain's most revered classical performers. David Tennant, who previously played Hamlet at the RSC, stars in the title role as King Richard, a monarch brought to ruin by his own weaknesses. Tennant is joined in the cast by Olivier Award-winner Oliver Ford Davies as the Duke of York and Michael Pennington as John of Gaunt. 

Rounding out the cast of veteran actors, Jane Lapotaire rejoins the RSC in the role of the Duchess of Gloucester. It is the Tony Award-winner's first stage production in over a decade, following a forced hiatus due to a near-fatal brain aneurysm. Greg Doran commented, "Jane wrote an extraordinary account of the cerebral haemorrhage she suffered in 2000, and her long recovery in a memoir called very wittily , TIME OUT OF MIND. Few of us believed that we would see her back at work, let alone back with her "family" in the RSC at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Click here to read the rest of the great interview with Jane.