HENRY VI

By William Shakespeare
BBC Radio 3, broadcast in two parts, 7 & 14 March 1971
Ian McKellen in the roles of "Richard Planatagenet, Duke of York," and his son "Richard Crookback, Duke of Gloucester"

The three HENRY VI plays abridged by Raymond Raikes

AUDIO CLIP IN MP3 FORMAT (3MB)

HENRY VI, Part One, Act 2, Scene IV takes place in the Temple Garden, London. Richard Plantagenet (Ian McKellen) argues that he has not been tainted and made unworthy by the execution of his father for treason — thus starts the War of the Roses.  Some lines originally written for "Somerset," "Vernon," and "Another Lawyer" have been merged into the parts of Suffolk, Warwick (Clifford Norgate), and Plantagenet.

The cast included Barbara Jefford (Queen Margaret), Nigel Lambert (King Henry VI), Basil Langton (Stafford), Trevor Martin (Jack Cade), Douglass Blackwell (Dick Butcher), Brian Hewlett (Smith), Peter Tuddenham (A Clerk of Chatham), John Forrest (Michael, Clarence), Kerry Francis (Lord Clifford of Cumberland), Anthony Higgison (Messenger), Martin Friend (Alexander Idon), Richard Griffiths (Edward, afterwards King Edward IV), and Daniel Rose (Edward Prince of Wales).

Stage Directions read by Gabriel Woolf
Music composed by Stephen Dodgson
Played by a section of the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Rae Jenkins

Thanks to Gordon Holmes for source materials