The Trial of Richard III: A Shakespeare Mock Trial and Talkback

Our assumption is that King Richard III survives the Battle of Bosworth Field and is to stand trial. Although the new administration of King Henry VII has a variety of offenses to choose from, Richard Plantagenet will be prosecuted only for the six most heinous acts of murder: those of the Lords Hastings, Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan, and, most horribly, of his two minor nephews, King Edward V, aged 12, and Richard, Duke of York, aged 9.

Characters from the play will be called as witnesses. At the end, the audience will serve as jury and decides the defendant’s fate.