Play in a Day: Henry VI Part 2 by William Shakespeare

The war with France is over, and to secure the peace, the naïve young King Henry VI marries the French noblewoman Margaret. But the infighting starts almost immediately.

Accusations of witchcraft, treason and fake miracles fly around the court, and it doesn’t take long before the faction of Richard, Duke of York, is in open revolt. 

Shakespeare made his name with this actionpacked history play. It features the earliest skirmishes of the Wars of the Roses, the thuggish uprising of Jack Cade (who gets rid of anyone who can read and write), and the emergence of a young Richard Plantagenet, who will one day become the infamous Richard III.

Actors and director have one day together as an ensemble before standing script-in-hand in front of an audience, the bare-bones reading allowing the words to take the stage.