A screenwriter who spearheaded the project to find the remains of Richard III has condemned plans to stage Shakespeare’s play in the cathedral where he was reburied in 2015.

Philippa Langley, who created the Looking for Richard project, said she was “shocked and deeply disappointed” that Leicester Cathedral would be playing host to a touring production of Richard III.

The Guardian revealed at the weekend plans to stage a play which is far from kind to the monarch, with Shakespeare portraying him as a sadist and a “poisonous bunch-back’d toad”.

Langley said the cathedral authorities had got it wrong. She said the Looking for Richard project “deplore and condemn Leicester Cathedral for this wholly unprincipled commercial and promotional venture”.

The performances should be relocated to an alternative venue, she said, and “no future performances of any play or film that might be considered derisive or humiliating to the memory of the king be contemplated where, it is important to remember, the man himself now lies”.

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Langley raised money and was responsible for persuading the University of Leicester to dig up a city council car park in search of Richard III’s remains. The successful dig became a global story and resulted in a reburial ceremony broadcast live on TV and presided over by the archbishop of Canterbury.

Langley was joined by the Richard III Society, which has hardened its position on the play. A spokesman initially said it would likely accept the performance if it was done sensitively, but on Monday the society issued a statement calling for the cathedral to change its mind.

It said: “It is both insensitive and disrespectful to stage a play that denigrates Richard III, an anointed king of England, in the very place where he was reburied with ‘dignity and honour’ only two years ago.

“Many people, and not just members of the Richard III Society, will be perplexed and disheartened at the prospect of this particular play being performed in the cathedral. We will make our feelings known to the cathedral authorities and will ask that their decision be reversed so that ‘dignity and honour’ can prevail.”

The cathedral authorities said they have no plans to change the decision, pointing out that the play, last staged at the cathedral in 2014, would remain a core work in the canon of English drama.

“The cathedral enables many to engage with different dimensions of this complex story,” it said in a statement. “This helps us to make sense of our understandings of monarchy, disability, power, faith, science, the arts, history, fact and fiction.”

It said Richard III would continue to arouse strong opinions but the new performances of the play would be memorable precisely because “Richard’s earthly remains lie in our midst”.

Antic Disposition theatre company said it would stage the play sensitively. It was about getting the balance right, said the artistic director, Ben Horslen. “You can be too revisionist with the play. The play is the play and there is no doubt in it that he is the villain.

“Equally, you don’t want to be adding too much unnecessary baggage, particularly as we now know more about the historical Richard. There has got to be a certain sympathy to that … We don’t want to be disrespectful.”