SARA Beer is back and ready to rule as she takes on the role of king in the Llanarth Group’s reimagining of Richard III.

Written by award-winning playwright Kaite O’Reilly, director Phillip Zarrilli brings his latest production of richard III redux to venues across Wales, with the play coming to the Small World Theatre at Cardigan on Friday, March 23.

Richard III: Bogeyman. Villain. Evil incarnate. Or is he? What if he is she?

What if the ‘hideous…. deformed, hobbling, hunchbacked cripple’ is portrayed by someone funny, female, feminist, and with the same form of scoliosis?

How might the story change, the body change, the acting change, the character change when explored by a disabled actress with deadly comic timing and a dislike for horses? How would previous star vehicle Richards measure up?

Olivier, McKellan, Pacino, Sher – watch out – the mighty richard III redux has you in the frame.

Riotously inventive and joyously irreverent, richard III redux is not a production of Shakespeare’s classic, but an interweaving of stories about acting, difference, and a maligned historical figure told by unreliable narrator Sara Beer.

She takes on Richard as a solo performer in a number of guises, interspersed with video and live camera sequences.

Sara said “I am extremely lucky to have worked with Kaite O'Reilly and Phillip Zarrilli on several projects over the years.

“Playing Richard III is not an opportunity I ever expected to arise but when Kaite suggested it as a way of exploring the many aspects of this much-maligned character and the portrayal throughout history by non-disabled actors I jumped at the chance.

“It is a hugely enjoyable process as well as a challenge like no other I have experienced. This production will be anything but traditional, but I am sure it will be thought provoking as well as entertaining.”

Kaite O’Reilly is a Wales-based playwright and theatre-maker who works internationally, with a specialism in disability arts and culture. Her award-winning plays and performance work are innovative in form, aesthetics and content.

She said: “It's with great pleasure I'm working again with Phillip Zarrilli and Sara Beer after the success of our 2016 collaboration, 'Cosy'.

“Sara is a terrific to write for - she's quirky, comedic, a good mimic, but classical, too, and working with her on richard III redux is a gift: It offers a wonderful opportunity to write in different styles and voices, to mix comedy with tragedy, to be playful as well as serious as we take on Shakespeare's 'hatchet job' on a monarch historians claim was in actual fact a just and popular king.

“This performance aims to be engaging and unexpected, prompting laughter and reflection as we throw new light on how disability is portrayed on our stages, and the great lies that are perpetuated by this fascination and fear of difference.”

Tickets available online at smallworld.org.uk or by calling 01239 615 952.