Best-selling historical author Philippa Gregory brings her play Richard, My Richard to the Theatre Royal, in Bury St Edmunds

The cast for an innovative new stage play by best-selling historical author Philippa Gregory coming to the Theatre Royal, in Bury St Edmunds, has been revealed.

Richard, My Richard, inspired by the real-life Richard III, is a co-production between the theatre and Shakespeare North Playhouse, and is on at the theatre April 11-27.

The cast includes Jennifer Matter, who went to school in Bury and was a member of Suffolk Young People’s Theatre. She has since performed around the world in films and on television and plays the Queen in this production.

She is joined by Kyle Rowe as Richard, Tom Kanji as History, Tyler Dobbs as George/Buckingham, Tori Burgess as Anne, Laura Smithers as Margaret, Matt Concannon as Edward/Thomas Stanley and Mary Savage as Elizabeth.

See theatreroyal.org

With an explosion of Tarmac, a Leicester car park erupts and Richard III crashes from his lost tomb to meet the character who has ruined his reputation: History – the record keeper who doesn’t always have his mind on the task.

Richard believes he has risen from the grave to heaven with an unstained conscience and History has the awkward task of telling him he is remembered as one of the greatest villains.

History admits he has his own doubts. He is far from a reliable narrator: his perspective is skewed, he has his favourites and some people he completely ignores.

Funny, poignant and underpinned by research, Richard’s secrets have not died with him – he rises up to tell us the story, his story, History.

Creator Philippa Gregory said: “I was inspired to write this play after having the privilege to attend the interment of Richard III at Leicester.

“I wanted to write a play about the real Richard and the people – especially the influential women – around him. Then the most important character walked into the play – History – who in an absent-minded moment gave us such a dark picture of the King, whose motto was loyalty and whose passion was chivalry.”