richard2nixon

play

Melange and PostMinArt Productions present

richard2nixon

a play by Robert B Suda

based on William Shakespeare’s King Richard II

Official homepage of the production

The first performance was in Budapest, in the New Studio of the Thalia Theatre on 10 November 2005

King Richard II and President Richard Nixon had to face the very same problems after coming to power. They were weak; each had strong opposition, and inherited a war from the previous leader that they could not put to an end. Moreover, their financial resources were more than limited. Although each had a powerful mentor on his side—John of Gaunt and Henry Kissinger—they ventured into semi-legal machinations in order to reassert their positions. Unfortunately, these manoeuvres did not work out well, and the two leaders were unable to cover up the ensuing scandals which ultimately led to their abdication and resignation—which happened for the first time in the history of both England and the United States. The play presents the two stories from beginning to end in a parallel fashion, with the characters belonging both to King Richard’s fourteenth and to Nixon’s twentieth century. The play makes use of Shakespeare’s paraphrased and reshaped text and various speeches, records and the Watergate-tapes from Nixon’s time, while the unfolding political thriller offers an inside view of the timeless intrigues of those in an around power.