Peggy
Ashcroft (1907-1991) said she agreed to take on the role of Margaret of
Anjou in The Wars of the Roses, the Royal Shakespeare Company's massive
1963 presentation of the three parts of Henry VI (edited to be presented
in two performances) and Richard III because she was attracted to the
"problem of presenting with credibility a woman who could carry her lover's
severed head on to the stage and play a scene holding it in her arms."
Ashcroft not only performed the scene with credibility, but she was acclaimed
as one of the best things in Peter Hall and John Barton's landmark production
which proved a marathon for the actors, especially on Saturdays when the cycle
was performed in its entirety beginning at 10:30 in the morning and not being
completed until 11:00 that night. Critics were particularly lavish in their
praise of Ian Holm as the Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) and David Warner
as Henry VI, but the consensus was that Ashcroft's Margaret was the jewel in
the crown of the RSC's landmark achievement, with many calling it the finest
work of her blue chip career.
Ashcroft seldom performed in Shakespeare after The Wars of the Roses, her only appearance being as Queen Catherine in the rarely-performed Henry VIII for the RSC in 1969. But she made a remarkable return to the Bard's work in 1981 when she had a triumph as the Countess of Rousillon in Trevor Nunn's brilliant production of All's Well that Ends Well at the age of 74.