The Player Kings: Part 1 & Part 2 at the Seymour Centre Tickets

“Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of Kings”

The Player Kings is an extraordinary and unforgettable offering and the biggest undertaking in Sport for Jove's history. This is Damien Ryan’s brand-new adaptation of Shakespeare’s great history cycle – the epic theatrical mirror Shakespeare held up to the eternal human struggle to lead, love and learn to live together.

We live in a virulently polarised world – truth from falsehood barely distinguishable – media smothered by propaganda and partisanship – leadership eccentric to the point of madness –democracy at its most fragile and ambiguous – autocracies thriving and flagrantly proud – and kleptocracy, the ancient art of governing by theft, proving a very adequate solution to the problem of who runs the show! Let’s just say it – we are living in a Shakespearean...tragedy? History? Nightmare? And if we really dare ask ourselves, do we perhaps enjoy the show a little too much to want it to end?

Playing over two compelling and contemporary chapters, the story glances backward to the journey from Richard II to Richard III, in order to thrust our gaze forward to how political systems collapse and societies devour their own potential.

Featuring a world-class cast, some of the finest actors of Shakespeare in the country, people whose capacity for language and depth of understanding is a promise of something very special. A hugely inventive and genuinely immersive experience, The Player Kings reimagines a Globe-like arena on the York stage at Seymour Centre.

This is a rare and deeply fulfilling opportunity to celebrate great performance, incredible writing and very big ideas, surrounded by your own community, the people who hold your future in their imaginations. Come along, sit on the ground with us, tell stories and help work out what we do next in this confusing, beautiful world we live in.