We might be tempted to think those Elizabethan acting companies were just being stingy with how many stage sets they had to create, but actually, the scene setting just might be significant. (The execution of Gray, Rivers, and Vaughn at Pomfret Castle in Act 3, Scene 3 is the only exception.) Only in Act 5, as the rival camps prepare for battle, do we get a refreshing scene change, passing through Salisbury and Tamworth before arriving at Bosworth Field for the final battle scene. For the first four acts, every scene (except one) is staged somewhere in London: anonymous streets, the palace rooms, the Tower of London, or at a handful of London houses. Placeįor being such a long play, Richard III is set in remarkably few places. Richard III is one of Shakespeare's longest plays but it doesn't feel that way because Richard is in a seriously big hurry to get his hands on the crown. The result is that the historical events are transformed into a narrative of tight pacing and lively action. He zooms us in to events he finds of interest and leaves out the more boring stuff.

Blakemore Evans referred to Shakespeare's flexibility with time as 'telescoping.' Basically Shakespeare tightly condenses the timing of the actual historical events, then mixes them around to suit his liking. (Shakespeare never claimed to be a historian, or at least we hope he didn't, because he would he have been a bad one.) Obviously, he had to sacrifice a little historical accuracy. That means Shakespeare condensed the actions of about 14 years into less than a month.

Yet, if interpreted tightly, the action of this Shakespeare play could occur over a mere 14 days. The play ends with the Battle of Bosworth Field, which took place in 1485. From Richard's opening speech, we learn that Edward IV has just come to the throne again, which (from a historical standpoint) sets the year at 1471. Richard III is set at the tail end of the English Wars of the Roses, which concluded with Richard's defeat and the establishment of the first Tudor monarch, Henry VII.

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