Next week, the Public Theater is doing a serial production of Shakespeare’s Richard II, over four nights at 8pm ET, Monday through Thursday. The cast is stacked: Lupita Nyong’o, Andre Holland, Michael Gaston, Phylicia Rashad, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and a whole pile of great stage actors. Almost the entire cast is made up of blindingly brilliant actors of color, which is not the typical way Richard II has been staged.
Richard II is an especially brilliant play for our times, and the Public usually puts on a couple of (free) productions in Central Park every year. They’re not, for pandemic reasons, but now everyone has a chance to participate.
Because, fear not! My local public radio station, WNYC, is partnering with the Public to broadcast the play as a serial, and if you’re not in the New York area you can listen at WNYC.org. (Each episode will last around an hour.)
They’ve posted the episode synopsis here. More details here.
I am planning to listen every night, and I’d love for you to join me, then come over here afterwards and hear what you’re thinking about after you listen. So each night next week, I’ll post a thread after the broadcast, which you can reply to quite easily here.
Join me?