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Henry VI - Henry V is dead. His heir, Henry VI, is an effete weakling, relying on the protectorship of his uncle, Lord Gloucester, whilst the ambitious bishop of Winchester schemes to gain control over him. In France, the hundred years war is not going well. News arrives that numerous French cities have fallen from English hands and the great hero Lord Talbot has been taken. The French have a new national heroine, Pucelle (Joan of Arc), who is leading their armies to victory after victory.
Meanwhile, the English camp is divided. The Dukes of York and Somerset are at loggerheads, choosing the white and red rose as their respective symbols. Talbot, freed from the French is besieged at Bordeux but the feuding of York and Somerset prevents their going to his aid. Englands greatest hero appears doomed, and the French Dauphin is in the ascendant.
The French offer peace, to be sealed by marriage to a French princess with a generous dowry, but the Lord Suffolk has found another contender for the King's matimonial chamber, through whom he seeks to gain power over the king and control the Realm himself. Even Gloucester's wife has ambitions far above her station. The weakling King is surrounded by conspirators. The enemies outside his camp are but mere shadows of those within.
Edward IV - Richard of York, sent to subdue the Irish, has returned with his army and is marching against king Henry VI, ostensibly to free the King from the influence of his enemy Somerset. York agrees to end his rebellion when the king promises to name him and his three sons (Edward, George and Richard) as his legal heirs, forsaking his own son,the Prince Edward.
Queen Margaret denounces Henry as a weakling and with her son raises an army to march against York. York is defeated and his head displayed on the battlements but his sons escape to continue the rebellion. Edward, the new Duke of York, eventually defeats the King's forces and claims the throne by right of accession from his father becoming King Edward IV, and appoints his brothers George and Richard the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester repectively. At the prompting of his ally Warwick, Edward agrees to consolidate his power with a French alliance sealed by marriage to a French princess, but instead marries the widow Elizabeth Woodville with whom he became enamoured when she came to him seeking the restoration of her husbands properties.
Enraged, Warwick changes sides and with French aid defeats King Edward and restores Henry to power. Edward is captured but is freed by his brother Richard and together they defeat Warwick and Edward retakes the throne. Henry's son, Edward Prince of Wales, is killed in battle and Henry himself is captured and subsequently murdered by Richard.
At last the conflict is over. A Yorkist king sits firmly upon the throne, and a son is born to secure the succession. But unknown to Edward, his brother Richard has ambitions of his own and is plotting his own rise to power.
Richard III - The Wars of the Roses are over, the Lancastrian King Henry VI is dead and the Yorkist King Edward IV sits upon the throne. His brother, Richard of Gloucester, who murdered King Henry, now plots to usurp the throne from the ailing new King. The first stage of Richard's plan is to manipulate the King into imprisoning their brother George (Duke of Clarence) who stands before Richard in the line of succession.
Lady Anne Neville, widow of the former Prince Edward, reviles Richard for his part in the killing of her husband but he seduces her to be his future queen. Then he sends assassins to murder his imprisoned brother. Shortly afterwards, King Edward dies and Richard, with the aid of his co-conspirators Buckingham and and Catesby, seizes the throne as protector over his two young nephews, the rightful heirs. The executions continue as Richard exterminates all of his opponents, including his nephews who are murdered in the tower. But power is more easily won than held on to. The shades of his victims return to haunt Richard and Richmond has raised an army against him.
In the final scene the armies clash, Richard's allies turn against him and the battle goes badly, he seeks to escape with the famous cry "A Horse! A Horse! My kingdom for a horse!" but Richmond kills Richard is crowned King Henry VII. The new King, a Lancastrian, marries Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth, a Yorkist, finally bringing a close to the War of the Roses by uniting the opposing houses.
This trilogy charts one of the bloodiest episodes in Britain's history, an enthralling saga of political intrigue, betrayals, military conquests and disasters.
The action in all three sagas took place on the same simplistic set representing all locations, from Parliament House in England to castle battlements in France (even this is a fop to modern tastes - in Shakespeare's time there would have been no set or scenery at all). The costumes were varied, characterised by long flowing greatcoats and high tied boots in the martial scenes and smart modern dress in times of peace.
Many of the members of Northern Broadsides are competent musicians and between their acting roles provided their musical accompaniment, characterised by much beating of drums in the martial scenes, but also a jazz session celebrating the Kingship of Edward IV.
Shakespeare's prose can be hard work for modern ears but this was not the case here. The action was furious, the characters bold and stentorian, and the convoluted stories were presented in a clear and agreeable fashion. The dialogue was clear and the humour in both prose and action came through clearly.
The large and talented cast of Northern Broadsides each played several roles throughout the duration of the trilogy (and often in the same episode). Of the principal characters, Andrew Whitehead as Henry VI captured the essence of a weak and ineffectual character, almost childish in nature, easily manipulated, and a mere shadow the great King Henry V who had sired him. Richard Standing made a strong and decisive Edward IV, whilst Conrad Nelson gave a magnificent performance as Richard III and was undoubtedly the star of the show. This despite, so we were told, his having suffered a serious leg injury sometime before the performance of 'Richard III', and in view of which he in particular received a rousing ovation at the end of that performance. Director Barrie Rutter (Douglas in TV's 'Fat Friends') gave a strong performance as the Duke of York in episodes one and two as did David Newman as his arch nemesis Somerset. Somerset was a particularly sour character whilst York emitted an air of unbridled ambition and patient assurity. Helen Sheals gave a wonderful account as the sensual and determined Margaret of Anjou. In the lesser roles, Mark Stratton was a stand out, particularly as Talbot in the opening episode, his stentorian tones booming out louder than the drum he beat on the march into battle. Other notable performances included Andrew Cryer as the self-aggrandising schemer, Suffolk, in the opening episode; Maeve Larkin as a playful Joan of Arc also in episode one; Simon Holland Roberts as the vengeful Young Clifford in episode two; Kate Williamson as the elegant Queen Elizabeth in episodes two and three; Bernard Merrick as Winchester in episode one and Old Clifford in episode two; and Dicken Ashworth, particularly as Gloucester in episode one. The remainder of the twenty-one strong cast all gave a good account.
A powerful, largely unornamented, and remarkably clear telling of the bloody historical saga.