Richard the Third and Goal, or R3G

This tongue-in-cheek comedy mashes together King Richard III with iconic and polarizing NFL star Ray Lewis. R3G looks at Shakespeare’s most notorious character through the lens of modern American sports worship, and using Lewis’ own words, explores the parallels between our greatest heroes and our most hated villains.

In 2000, NFL star Ray Lewis was arrested in connection with a street brawl that ended in the stabbing death of two men. One year later, having pled guilty to obstruction of justice and after having served a brief prison sentence, Lewis led his team to football’s highest prize, the Super Bowl championship. In 2012 Lewis earned a second championship and retired following the season as a man loved by some, hated by others. R3G teases out Shakespeare’s play in the style of an American football game and places Richard’s treacherous rise to kingship within the landscape of American sports hero idolatry through the words of hero/villain Lewis.