Voice of Richard III — WORLD PREMIERE – ‘LIVING’ AND SPEAKING RICHARD III

Imagine if you could see and hear King Richard III speaking his own words.

Imagine if you could see him breathing, thinking and effectively ‘brought back to life’.

On Sunday 17 November 2024 at York Theatre Royal, state-of-the-art technology will reveal for the first time: a moving, breathing, ‘living’ face of a long-dead king speaking his own words in the pronunciation of his time.

What started for Yvonne Morley-Chisholm, expert voice teacher and vocal coach, over ten years ago as an after-dinner entertainment to compare Shakespeare’s character with what we know of the real man, developed quickly into a research project with a unique focus: to explore the possibility of creating a literal voice for a long-dead historical figure. Fast-forward ten years and this international launch event will cover how the pieces of a complex puzzle came together using primary evidence.

This is the new science of Historical Human Reconstruction or Postmortalism, which uses an avatar of the person, based on the reconstruction of their head. It provides an entirely new way to learn about the past. In this instance we’ll understand more about the last Plantagenet King. It also paves the way for other historical avatars in the future. 

After all the controversy surrounding this monarch and the questions raised about his actions and personality: was he a good man or murderous psychopath?

Now King Richard III will speak for himself.

Experts from across the UK and abroad joined in this unique, pioneering collaboration. Some of them will share presentations during the international launch event at York Theatre Royal starting at 12 noon through to 6pm with the final ‘reveal’ at 5.30pm on Sunday 17 November 2024.

Taking the rostrum with Yvonne Morley-Chisholm is the key collaborator: leading cranio-facial identification expert Professor Caroline Wilkinson and her Face Lab team, and Professor David Crystal OBE, internationally acclaimed linguist and leading specialist in Original Pronunciation. 

Joining them will be playwright Dr Bridget Foreman from the University of York, as well as historians Matthew Lewis and Philippa Langley MBE.

As well as exploring the fascinating true history of King Richard III, the event will include discussion on a wide range of topics including Medieval History, Linguistics, Original (Historical) Pronunciation, Craniofacial Reconstruction, Forensic Psychology, Voice and Dialect, Historical Human Reconstruction, Postmortalism, CGI and Motion-Capture among other specialisms.

Tickets are on sale now at https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/a-voice-for-king-richard-iii/
Further information is available at https://www.avoiceforrichard.co.uk

The event will also be Live-streamed.

Background information: Richard III was King of England from 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 at the age of 32. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at Bosworth was the penultimate battle in the Wars of the Roses and ushered in the Tudor dynasty. The remains of Richard III were discovered in 2012 under a car park in Leicester by Philippa Langley MBE through her original Looking For Richard Project. Philippa’s search for the king’s grave was the subject of the award-winning TV documentary: Richard III: The King in the Car Park. The remains of King Richard were identified using a range of scientific disciplines including DNA analysis.

Yvonne Morley Chisholm said: “It’s been the greatest privilege to work with Professor Caroline Wilkinson. Her team at Face Lab are currently working towards animating the face of King Richard III from real-time motion capture. Professor Wilkinson’s work provides the physical nucleus while mine provides the vocal nucleus in this “world first”.  This is the new science of Historical Human Reconstruction or Postmortalism using an avatar of the real King based on the reconstruction of his head.

I am also deeply honoured to be working with Professor David Crystal who is the internationally recognised, leading expert in Original Pronunciation. He has created a reconstruction of the king’s pronunciation using personal letters and documents. The result is as close as anyone can get to King Richard III’s speech from the time in which he lived and reigned.

I am grateful for the many others who have helped to shape each piece of the puzzle in this pioneering and unique collaboration. The project has achieved more than I ever dared to imagine it could.

We are bringing a long dead king back to a kind of “life”. We are learning more about the real man in doing so.

With state-of-the-art motion-capture technology, CGI animation and the like, I hope that – for those who find history a little dull – we are making it “cool” “.

Professor Caroline Wilkinson said: “Since we produced the facial reconstruction of Richard III in 2012, we have dreamt about bringing him alive, to see him move and speak his own words. With the help of advanced digital avatar technology and Yvonne’s voice team, we have been able to realise this dream. The result has exceeded our expectations and represents the most authentic and realistic portrait of this great king, based on all the evidence available.”

Professor David Crystal OBE said: “I think people will be surprised to hear a kind of speech that is a fascinating mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar. English pronunciation has changed a lot since the 15th century, but it’s still very intelligible to modern ears”.