Bom-Barded
With recent airings on PBS via the BBC’s “Hollow Crown” series and a screening of the Royal Shakespeare Company production, and with celebrations being held the world over for William Shakespeare’s 450th birthday, the Delaware-Pennsylvania region has seen a mini-renaissance of Shakespeare’s “Richard II.” The Arden Shakespeare Gild celebrates with its own production June 12-14, June 19-21, June 26-28. Told in some of the most soaring language in the Shakespearean canon, “Richard II” shows how a failed king confronts his identity. Greg Faber will play King Richard and David Hastings will play his cousin Henry Bolingbroke. They are joined by Arden veteran actors Daniel L. Tucker as John of Gaunt, Henry Moncure III as the Duke of York, Melissa Kearney as the Queen, along with new members of the Arden family, Patti Allis Mengers as the Duchess of York, and Jim Ewald as the Earl of Northumberland. Lazar has previously directed “Twelfth Night” in Arden and several themed evenings of Shakespearean scenes, as well as various other plays in many other local theaters. At $10 a ticket, it’s one of the best bargains in the arts. For tickets and more, call 475-3126 or click reservations@ardenshakespearegild.org.