Audiences are not seeing lots of prosthetics or someone dressed up. The work is already done
ARTHUR HUGHES, WHO HAS UPPER LIMB DIFFERENCES, IS THE FIRST DISABLED ACTOR TO PLAY RICHARD III FOR THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
YOU played the young Richard of Gloucester in Owen Horsley’s production of Henry VI: The Wars of the Roses, who later goes onto become Richard III. For those who don’t know their medieval history, tell us a little about where the story of Henry VI ends and where Richard III picks up…
Yes, my character, Richard, goes on quite the journey across the two plays! The Wars of the Roses finishes with the Houses of York and Lancaster battling it out with Richard on the side of York with his brother Edward becoming King.
By the end of the play both sides are living in peace, the war is over... but for Richard, it’s just beginning. During the second half of the play, Richard starts to think ‘I need to look after myself because I’ll just end up getting left behind otherwise’.
At the start of Richard III, where we hear those famous lines ‘Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by the sun of York’, the war is over, the court is happy but – behind the scenes - Richard’s plan is taking shape. As the play continues we see him rise to finally become king, after dispatching with his brothers, his nephews and anyone else who gets in his way.
But for Richard, it’s a case of ‘Be
careful what you wish for’!
Who is the character of Richard III to you?
Ultimately, I see Richard III as a really damaged young man who has grown up through a civil war, where he began to find his worth through a tight-knit family unit and a father who believed in him and loved him and looked on him with respect. Following the death of his father he feels the isolation of the world he inhabits and a society than shuns him. He becomes someone who doesn’t see himself as fitting into the established hierarchy. So what does he do? He rejects it because, ultimately, it doesn’t serve him.
Do you feel your own lived experience of disability/limb difference impacts upon your approach to and interpretation of this role?
I think, for an audience, seeing a disabled body in Richard III is such a powerful statement, before he has even spoken. There’s an immediate truth to it.
For me as a disabled actor, I suppose I understand what it means to be left out, to be underestimated, not thought of or to be thought of as less. I think that still happens in our world, where ableism is still a part of everyday life.
Playing Richard as a disabled actor, the audience can see the difference instantly and the language only serves to heighten that.
With the experience of a disabled actor, a disabled body in that role, you’re not seeing an impression, an artifice, you’re not seeing lots of prosthetics or someone dressed up. The work is already done. Personally speaking, I think that’s richer for an audience.
Do you feel the RSC’s decision to cast an actor with limb difference in this role represents a significant milestone for the industry and for disability representation more broadly on our stage and screen?
I hope so. It’s not the first time, of course, that disabled actors have played Richard III. But for a disabled actor to play the role for an organisation as big as the RSC, that’s quite something!
It feels like an exciting time to be a disabled actor working within the arts at the moment. I hope the decision to cast a disabled actor in a title role inspires other theatres to follow suit.
Of course, ultimately, it would also be fantastic to see more disabled actors cast in non-disabled parts and it’s exciting to think about what might come next… a disabled actor cast as Macbeth, Hamlet or Othello? That’s when we’ll know that we’re at a point of real change, when disability becomes just something incidental.
Do you feel a certain amount of pressure taking on a role with the rostra of RSC actors who have come before you (e.g Sir Christopher Plummer, Antony Sher, Robert Lindsay etc)?
I think it would be a dream role for anyone. Funnily enough, I’ve never seen Richard III in performance, although I’ve read the play several times. I think I prefer it that way. As an actor, you’re always conscious of what’s come before you but all you can do is respond to the play, as you understand it, now. This is my Richard and I’ve been chosen for that reason; to deliver my truth and my version of this incredibly rich and complex character.
Radio listeners will know you as the voice of Ruairi Donovan in The Archers. What’s the gossip in Ambridge?
That would be telling wouldn’t it? I’m afraid what happens in Ambridge, stays in Ambridge. I’ve been visiting Birmingham quite a bit so you’ll be hearing more from me in the next few months…
Richard III is running at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratfordupon-Avon until October 8. For tickets, visit www.rsc.org.uk