The 19th season of the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival will conclude on a tragic note with Richard III. Performances run July 17 through August 2 in Kingsmen Park on the Thousand Oaks campus of California Lutheran University. Festival grounds open at 5:30 pm for picnicking and entertainment.
The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company last presented Richard III a decade ago. With Richard finally having been given an official burial in March after his long-lost body was unearthed and the popularity of the HBO series Game of Thrones, which is based on the Wars of the Roses, the time seemed right to revisit the play.
One of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, Richard III was written around 1592 about the final chapter in the Wars of the Roses. King Edward IV of the House of York sits on the throne unaware that his brother, Richard of Gloucester, has a Machiavellian passion to take the crown and will stop at nothing. Richard plots to eliminate everyone who gets in his way.
Cast members include several newcomers to the Kingsmen stage: Jason McBeth as Richard, Angela Sauer as Queen Elizabeth, Gillian Doyle as Margaret, Jamey Hecht as the Duke of Clarence and Seta Wainiqolo as Richmond. The cast will also include Rachel Seiferth as Lady Anne, Ross Hellwig as Buckingham, Marc Silver as Hastings and Harold Dixon as Stanley.
General admission is $20 for adults and free for those under 18. Individual tickets are available at the door only. For lawn box reservations, visit kingsmenshakespeare.org or call 805-493-3014.
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