A History of the RSC in 50 Objects (Online)

Crown worn by Chuk Iwuji

The Histories, 2006

Director: Michael Boyd

Costume Designer: Tom Piper

The Histories were the complete cycle of Shakespeare's eight history plays. They began during the Complete Works Festival in 2006 and were completed in 2008. All the plays in the cycle were performed by the same group of 34 actors playing 264 roles between them. The cycle was watched by over 250,000 people in Stratford and London.

This crown was worn by Chuk Iwuji. Iwuji played Henry VI in the Henry VI trilogy and the ghost of Henry VI in Richard III. Identical crowns were worn by other members of the cast playing Kings throughout the cycle. This design element created a visual link between all the plays even though the settings and periods were different.