What did Richard III sound like? Find out at Sunday’s world premiere at the York Theater Royal as the avatar comes to life on film

IMAGINE if you could see and hear King Richard III speak his own words. Imagine experiencing him breathing, thinking and effectively being “brought back to life”‘.

On Sunday, in a six-hour conference-style launch event at York Theater Royal, the latest technology will reveal for the first time a moving, “living” face of the long-dead king, preaching in the tongues of his Plantagenet era. More Yorkshire than wrinkles, apparently.

What began for Yvonne Morley-Chisholm, voice teacher, vocal coach and project creator, more than ten years ago as an after-dinner entertainment to compare Shakespeare’s character with what we know of the real man quickly developed into a research project.

The focus would be unique: to “explore the possibility of creating a literal voice for a long-dead historical figure”. Fast forward ten years to November 17, 2024, when this international launch event will cover how the pieces of a complex puzzle came together using primary evidence.

This is the new science of historical human reconstruction or postmortalism, one that uses an avatar of the person, based on the reconstruction of their head, to provide a completely new way of learning about the past. In this case, we can understand more about the last Plantagenet king of England who reigned from 26 June 1483 to 22 August 1485, while paving the way for other historical avatars.

Sunday’s “revelation” comes against the backdrop of the endless controversy surrounding this tainted monarch, Richard of York, 3^rd Duke of York, and the questions raised about his actions and personality: was he a good man or a murderous psychopath, the reviled, malignant Crookback of Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Richard the Third?

Now King Richard III will speak for himself after experts from across the UK and abroad joined this ground-breaking collaboration. Some will share presentations during Sunday’s international launch event, booked for York Theater Royal from 6pm. 12.00 to 18.00, and culminates with the final “reveal” at 5:30 p.m.

Taking the podium alongside Yvonne Morley-Chisholm will be key collaborator, craniofacial identification expert Professor Caroline Wilkinson and her Face Lab team, from Liverpool John Moores University, and Professor David Crystal OBE, linguist and specialist in original pronunciation.

Together with them, the playwright Dr. Bridget Foreman, Lecturer in Playwriting at the University of York; Matthew Lewis, author, historian and History Hit podcaster; Philippa Langley MBE, author, historian and film producer, who led the search for Richard III’s remains under a Leicester car park, and actor Thomas Dennis, whose vocal performance and facial movements were chosen to animate the avatar made from King Richard III’s facial reconstruction.

As well as exploring the true story of King Richard III, the event will feature discussions on a range of topics including medieval history, linguistics, original (historical) pronunciation, craniofacial reconstruction, forensic psychology, voice and dialect, historical human reconstruction, postmortemism, CGI and Motion- Capture, among other specialties.

Yvonne Morley-Chisholm said: “It has been the greatest privilege to work with Professor Caroline Wilkinson. Her team at the Face Lab are working on animating the face of King Richard III from real-time motion capture.

“Professor Wilkinson’s work provides the physical core, while mine provides the vocal core of this ‘world news’. This is the new science of historical human reconstruction or postmortalism that uses an avatar of the real king based on the reconstruction of his head.

“I am also deeply honored to be working with Professor David Crystal, who is the internationally recognized leading expert in original pronunciation. He has made a reconstruction of the king’s pronunciation using personal letters and documents. The result is as close as anyone can get to King Richard III’s speech from the time when he lived and reigned.

“I am grateful to the many others who have helped shape every piece of the puzzle in this ground-breaking and unique collaboration. The project has achieved more than I ever imagined it could.

“We are bringing a long-dead king back to a kind of ‘life’. We learn more about the real man by doing so. With state-of-the-art motion-capture technology, CGI animation and the like, I hope that – for those who find the story a bit boring – we’ll make it ‘cool’.”

Professor Caroline Wilkinson said: “Since we produced the facial reconstruction of Richard III in 2012, we have dreamed of bringing him to life, to see him move and speak his own words. Using advanced digital avatar technology and Yvonne’s voice team have we been able to realize this dream.

“The result has exceeded our expectations and represents the most authentic and realistic portrait of this great king, based on all available evidence.”

Professor David Crystal said: “I think people will be surprised to hear a kind of speech that is a fascinating mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar. English pronunciation has changed a lot since the 15th century, but it is still very understandable to modern ears.”

Matthew Lewis said: “We live in an age that is experienced and digested through media. We are surrounded by images and voices of all kinds of people. But not so long ago we have no images beyond portraits, which often come years after a person’s death We have no recordings of their voices to hear them, and in a time before diaries were common, there was little hope of penetrating beyond public figures.

“The Voice For Richard Project is a great example of how science, technology and history can come together to help bridge the time gap that separates us from those we have heard of but could never have heard.

“This is as close as we can get to being in the room of the 15th century when a king is speaking. I can’t wait for the world to see the culmination of ten years of hard work and innovation.”

Philippa Langley MBE said: “To help bring Richard to life, research into his character focused on contemporary descriptions from his own lifetime. These included private letters and a diary. The findings corresponded directly to similar public descriptions, offering a likelihood, that borders on the certainty of his recognized character from his lifetime.

“The results, which will be premiered in York, will be a technological, scientific and historical breakthrough to help our understanding of the past and this important historical figure.

“It has been the most incredible honor to be part of this cross-platform research over its ten years and I would like to thank Yvonne Morley-Chisholm for inviting me to be part of her team. The world premiere in York promises to be extraordinary.”

Tickets: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/a-voice-for-king-richard-iii/. Further information: avoiceforrichard.co.uk. Sunday’s event will also be live streamed at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/a-voice-for-king-richard-iii-livestream/.

Richard III: The (Hunchback) History

BORN on 2 October 1452, he grew up at Middleham Castle in the Yorkshire Dales. Visited York several times during his short reign as King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 aged 32.

Last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at Bosworth was the penultimate battle of the Wars of the Roses and ushered in the Tudor dynasty. The last fight? The Battle of Stoke Field, 16 June 1487.

His remains were discovered in 2012 under a car park in Leicester by the University of Leicester Archaeological Services and Philippa Langley MBE, of the Richard III Society, through her original Looking For Richard Project.

Philippa’s search for the king’s tomb was the subject of the award-winning television documentary Richard III: The King In The Car Park. The remains were identified using scientific disciplines including DNA analysis and are now buried in Leicester Cathedral.

A Voice for Richard III International Launch Event Schedule, York Theater Royal, Sunday

12.00 to 1.30 p.m: First session: From the myths to the man, presented by Dr. Bridget Foreman, Matthew Lewis and Philippa Langley. 1.30 p.m.: Lunch break.

14.30 to 16.00: Second session: The experts speak: Historical human reconstruction, presented by Prof Caroline Wilkinson, Prof David Crystal and Yvonne Morley-Chisholm. 16:00: Pause.

16.30 to 18.00: Third session: Continuation and culmination: the revelation (17.30). Documentary excerpt from History Hit, followed by Yvonne Morley-Chisholm talking to Thomas Dennis, the actor chosen to be the face and voice of the King, leading to a film of the face of King Richard III speaking his own words in his own pronunciation.