David Tennant leads new RSC season as Richard II (GUARDIAN)

Great Dane … David Tennant in the RSC's production of Hamlet. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian

Five years after his critically acclaimed Hamlet, David Tennant is to return to the ranks of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the title role of Richard II.

On Wednesday the RSC's new artistic director Gregory Doran announced details of his first season since taking over from Michael Boyd, with the return of Tennant and adaptations of Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell novels among the highlights.

Doran himself will direct Richard II, following on from their Hamlet in 2008–09 – a production that the Guardian's Michael Billington described as "one of the most richly textured, best-acted versions of the play we have seen in years". While it was a much praised production it was not without its difficulties; chief among them Tennant's prolapsed disc that meant he was unable to perform in the London production for about a month.

READ MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2013/jan/23/david-tennant-rsc-season-richard

Jeremy Irons prefers Shakespeare to 'Abbey' Gary Levin, USA TODAY

The actor is among the stars who will delve into the Bard's most compelling characters for PBS.

PBS is telling tales behind some of Shakespeare's greatest plays.

Shakespeare Uncovered, produced by New York's WNET, is a three-week, six-episode project featuring stars who've played celebrated characters exploring what's behind them. It kicks off Jan. 25 with Ethan Hawke exploring Macbeth and Joely Richardson delving into the playwright's comedies. Jeremy Irons tackles Henry IVand V on Feb. 1, and other episodes feature Hamlet, The Tempest and Richard II. Each episode mixes performances, history, analysis, and the actors speaking passionately about their roles as they trek to sites imagined or visited by the author.

"One of the reasons why Shakespeare shines as the greatest dramatist of all time is he was writing about the human condition," Irons says. "Jealousy, envy or unrequited love, or the relationship between family members. It's something that hasn't changed. So when we see those plays now they still speak to us, they have a resonance, (while) hundreds of plays written since then don't."


READ MORE: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2013/01/15/jeremy-irons-pbs-shakespeare/1836523/