Actor and playwright Kate Mulvany will play the bloodthirsty manipulator in Peter Evans’ intriguing new production.

Bell Shakespeare will open their 2017 season with Richard 3, Shakespeare’s historical play depicting the bloody rise to power of King Richard III of England and in a twist, Evans’ has cast award-winning Australian actor Kate Mulvany – well-known for her role in the Baz Luhrmann film The Great Gatsby – as the hunchbacked, Machiavellian villain. 

“This is the third in a series of productions 
Kate and I have collaborated on over the years, including Julius Caesar (2011) and Macbeth (2012),” said Evans. “In both those productions and again in Richard 3, Kate explores these plays and the roles of women within them as an actor and dramaturg. Richard 3 is a play where the grief and rage is carried by women who have to stand by as their husbands and sons die. Having Kate play the male protagonist, whose contempt for women is infamous, will bring a new layer to this production.”

^{Kate Mulvany as Cassius in Peter Evans’ 2011 production of Julius Caesar}

“When Peter Evans approached me two years ago to perform as the cunning, curved King Richard 3,” said Mulvany, “it was one of those moments that both terrified and tantalised all at once. Richard 3 is one of those roles you wait for as
 an actor, and not one you usually expect to be offered as an actor… Which is strange, really, because even in 1592, Shakespeare’s text boldly challenged the notion of what makes a ‘King’. Or a ‘Queen’, for that matter.”

For Mulvany, the play still has resonance more than four hundred years later. “In 2017, as strongly as ever, if not more so, Richard 3 continues to challenge the concept
 of who wields power,” she said. “It is about breaking the rules of ascension and overthrowing the “norm”. It is about the stooped learning to stand. It is about warped personal ambition and systemic ignorance. And most importantly, it is about the consequences of what it is to be a dehumanised human, and our own personal role in it… So for me, it wasn’t a question of ‘Why should I play Richard?’ It was a big, terrifying, ‘Why not?’”

^{Kate Mulvany as Lady MacBeth in Bell Shakespeare’s 2012 production of MacBeth}

This is only the first announcement from Bell Shakespeare in 2017, as they launch a single ticket membership scheme to replace the usual theatre season package model – further shows will be announced later in the year.

In the meantime, though, Mulvany is excited about Richard 3. “I look forward to stepping into the shoes of the stooped conqueror Richard,” said Mulvany, “and finding out just how much spine we both have.”

Richard 3 plays the Sydney Opera House from February 25 to April 1, the Canberra Theatre Centre from April 6-15 and Arts Centre Melbourne from April 20 to May 7

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