Studio 12, 6pm
Running time: 60 minutes
Pushing the boundaries of Shakespearean performance, Richard III is reimagined as a bold, engaging solo show. With the fourth wall utterly obliterated, the audience take on the roles of all the other characters at Richard’s party in this intimate, exciting, and moving production. Let Richard entertain you…but will you survive?
“Emily Carding and Kolbrun Bjort Sigfusdottir’s adaptation of Richard III is a smart, sparse, stripped back version of the text built around Carding’s utterly compelling performance.” **** The Stage
“an extraordinary performance from Emily Carding, a female Richard as bitter, damaged, ingenious and irresistible as any I’ve ever seen.” **** Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
“Emily Carding’s portrayal of the king who murders his way to the English throne is in a league of its own.” ***** Broadway Baby
Performer: Emily Carding
Writer: Kolbrun Bjort Sigfusdottir
Emily Carding is an experienced Shakespearean actor, having appeared in versions of over twenty of Shakespeare’s plays, both on stage and screen. They hold a BA (hons) in Theatre Arts from Bretton Hall and an MFA in Staging Shakespeare from the University of Exeter. Emily has, together with independent theatre company Brite Theater, created a number of challenging and innovative shows including Hamlet (an experience) and Richard III (A One Woman Show) – now retitled Richard III (a one person show)-both of which have won awards and rave reviews internationally. Emily is also an accomplished screen actor, and played opposite Martin Freeman in the British horror movie hit, Ghost Stories and will appear on cinema screens in 2024 as Dara in Return to Silent Hill directed by Christophe Gans.
In 2018 Emily was commissioned by London Science Museum to create a solo theatre piece inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Quintessence imagines a future where humanity has become extinct and must be recreated by an AI, using Shakespeare as a guide to the human spirit. This won the outstanding theatre award at Brighton Fringe in 2019. A new version is being developed with director Susan Luciani to incorporate immersive projection.
Emily is also a published creator of a number of highly popular Tarot decks including The Transparent Tarot, The Transparent Oracle and Tarot of the Sidhe, and author of esoteric works, including Faery Craft,(Llewellyn 2012) So Potent Art: The Magic of Shakespeare (Llewellyn 2021) and Seeking Faery (Llewellyn 2022)