and has just been singing. Prince Henry grieves for his dying father, wondering at the illness’ strange effect on his mind. Salisbury comforts him, telling him it’s his fate to resolve the confused situation of the times. John is brought into the orchard, relieved to be outside. He is burning inside and desires coolness but complains that none of them will help him. Prince Henry wishes his tears would help his father but John complains they’re too hot.
Lines 52–122: Richard rushes in eager to see John, who says he has just enough strength to hear his news. Richard says the dauphin is coming and he has lost half his army, but Salisbury tells him that John is dead. Richard says he will wait just long enough to avenge John and then follow him to the grave. He asks the stars for aid. Salisbury says he obviously doesn’t know that Cardinal Pandulph is resting inside, who came half an hour ago to say that he had concluded an honorable peace with the dauphin. Richard thinks he’ll be more inclined when he sees them ready to fight but Salisbury says it’s already concluded; the dauphin has already sent his troops home and left the Cardinal to arrange the rest with Richard, himself, and the other lords. Richard agrees; Prince Henry should accompany his father’s body to Worcester for burial. Richard offers his “faithful services / And true subjection” to the prince, and the other lords follow suit. Prince Henry wishes he could thank them but can only do so with his tears. Richard says they should grieve as befits the time, but England shall never be conquered, now that all are loyal again. Nothing will make them sorry “If England to itself do rest but true.”
KING JOHN
IN PERFORMANCE:
THE RSC AND BEYOND
The best way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or ideally to participate in it. By examining a range of productions, we may gain a sense of the extraordinary variety of approaches and interpretations that are possible—a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made “our contemporary” four centuries after his death.
We begin with a brief overview of the play’s theatrical and cinematic life, offering historical perspectives on how it has been performed. We then analyze in more detail a series of productions staged over the last half century by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The sense of dialogue between productions that can only occur when a company is dedicated to the revival and investigation of the Shakespeare canon over a long period, together with the uniquely comprehensive archival resource of promptbooks, programme notes, reviews, and interviews held on behalf of the RSC at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, allows an “RSC stage history” to become a crucible in which the chemistry of the play can be explored.
We then go to the horse’s mouth. Modern theater is dominated by the figure of the director. He or she must hold together the whole play, whereas the actor must concentrate on his or her part. The director’s viewpoint is therefore especially valuable. Shakespeare’s plasticity is wonderfully revealed when we hear the directors of two highly successful productions of each play answering the same questions in very different ways.
FOUR CENTURIES OF
KING JOHN
: AN OVERVIEW
Shakespeare’s
King John
, with its pageantry and anti-Catholicism, appears to have been a popular play during the Elizabethan and earlyJacobean periods. This is evidenced by its mention in Francis Meres’ commonplace book
Palladis Tamia
(1598), in which he claims that “As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy among the Latines: so Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage.” 1 The inaccurate attribution to Shakespeare in the 1611 and 1622 reprints of the anonymous, strongly anti-Catholic
Troublesome Raigne of King John
(almost certainly one of Shakespeare’s key sources), was either a
Lines 52–122: Richard rushes in eager to see John, who says he has just enough strength to hear his news. Richard says the dauphin is coming and he has lost half his army, but Salisbury tells him that John is dead. Richard says he will wait just long enough to avenge John and then follow him to the grave. He asks the stars for aid. Salisbury says he obviously doesn’t know that Cardinal Pandulph is resting inside, who came half an hour ago to say that he had concluded an honorable peace with the dauphin. Richard thinks he’ll be more inclined when he sees them ready to fight but Salisbury says it’s already concluded; the dauphin has already sent his troops home and left the Cardinal to arrange the rest with Richard, himself, and the other lords. Richard agrees; Prince Henry should accompany his father’s body to Worcester for burial. Richard offers his “faithful services / And true subjection” to the prince, and the other lords follow suit. Prince Henry wishes he could thank them but can only do so with his tears. Richard says they should grieve as befits the time, but England shall never be conquered, now that all are loyal again. Nothing will make them sorry “If England to itself do rest but true.”
KING JOHN
IN PERFORMANCE:
THE RSC AND BEYOND
The best way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or ideally to participate in it. By examining a range of productions, we may gain a sense of the extraordinary variety of approaches and interpretations that are possible—a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made “our contemporary” four centuries after his death.
We begin with a brief overview of the play’s theatrical and cinematic life, offering historical perspectives on how it has been performed. We then analyze in more detail a series of productions staged over the last half century by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The sense of dialogue between productions that can only occur when a company is dedicated to the revival and investigation of the Shakespeare canon over a long period, together with the uniquely comprehensive archival resource of promptbooks, programme notes, reviews, and interviews held on behalf of the RSC at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, allows an “RSC stage history” to become a crucible in which the chemistry of the play can be explored.
We then go to the horse’s mouth. Modern theater is dominated by the figure of the director. He or she must hold together the whole play, whereas the actor must concentrate on his or her part. The director’s viewpoint is therefore especially valuable. Shakespeare’s plasticity is wonderfully revealed when we hear the directors of two highly successful productions of each play answering the same questions in very different ways.
FOUR CENTURIES OF
KING JOHN
: AN OVERVIEW
Shakespeare’s
King John
, with its pageantry and anti-Catholicism, appears to have been a popular play during the Elizabethan and earlyJacobean periods. This is evidenced by its mention in Francis Meres’ commonplace book
Palladis Tamia
(1598), in which he claims that “As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy among the Latines: so Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage.” 1 The inaccurate attribution to Shakespeare in the 1611 and 1622 reprints of the anonymous, strongly anti-Catholic
Troublesome Raigne of King John
(almost certainly one of Shakespeare’s key sources), was either a
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