Richard II
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Hodgdon, Barbara, The End Crowns All: Closure and Contradiction in Shakespeare’s History (1991). Thoughtful general introduction plus chapters on individual history plays, focusing on theatrical conclusions: chapter 5 on Richard II, pp. 127–50.
Holderness, Graham, Shakespeare’s History Plays: Richard II to Henry V, New Casebooks (1992). Theoretically informed collection of important late twentieth-century critical essays.
Holderness, Graham, Shakespeare: The Histories (2000). Useful account of historical context and a chapter on each of the individual plays, Richard II at pp. 175–216.
Kantorowicz, Ernst H., The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology (1957). Influential development of the thesis of the natural versus the political body of the king.
Lopez, Jeremy, Richard II, The Shakespeare Handbooks (2009). Useful guide with chapters on early performance, sources, context, criticism, key productions, and textual commentary.
Sieman, James R., Word Against Word: Shakespearean Utterance (2002). Fascinating detailed linguistic account.
THE PLAY IN PERFORMANCE
Brooke, Michael, “Richard II on Screen,” www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1027840/. Overview of television versions, with clips.
Hattaway, Michael, Boika Sokolova, and Derek Roper, eds., Shakespeare in the New Europe (1994). Fascinating account of the continuing international significance of Shakespeare’s plays; includes Nicholas Potter, “ ‘Like to a Tenement or Pelting Farm’: Richard II and the Idea of the Nation,” pp. 130–47; Michael Hattaway, “Shakespeare’s Histories: The Politics of Recent British Productions,” pp. 351–69.
Jones, Maria, Shakespeare’s Culture in Modern Performance (2003). Thoughtful introduction with detailed account of recent performances; the chapter on Richard II focuses on the use of the crown as a prop.
Page, Malcolm, Richard II: Text and Performance (1987). Good basic introduction to the text in Part 1 with a detailed discussion of important performances from 1973 to 1984.
Rauen, Margarida Gandara, Richard II Playtext, Promptbooks and History 1597–1857 (1998). Detailed account of early texts and editions of play.
Shewring, Margaret, Shakespeare in Performance: King Richard II (1996). Useful introduction—Part 1 discusses the text, Part 2 individual productions and performances, Part 3 the play in other cultural contexts.
Smallwood, Robert, ed., Players of Shakespeare 6 (2004). Actors discuss their performances: Sam West on Richard II, pp. 85–99, David Troughton on Bullingbrook/Henry IV, pp. 100–16.
AVAILABLE ON DVD
Richard II, directed by Deborah Warner (1997). Recording of successful stage production with Fiona Shaw as Richard; contentious cross-casting produced a haunting performance, discussed above.
Richard II, directed by David Giles (1978, DVD 2005). Part of the BBC Shakespeare series. Derek Jacobi gives a bravura performance as Richard in a star-studded cast with John Gielgud as Gaunt.
Richard the Second, directed by John Farrell (DVD 2001). Updated, contemporary version: reasonable performances but sound levels poor. Not for purists.
Richard II, directed by William Woodman (1982, DVD 2001). Well-meaning but misguided.
The Wars of the Roses, directed by Michael Bogdanov (1989, DVD 2005). Recording of English Shakespeare Company’s eclectic stage production with Michael Pennington, a compelling Richard.
REFERENCES
1. Tim Carroll, “ ‘Practising Behaviour to His Own Shadow,’ ” in Christie Carson and Farah Karim-Cooper, eds., Shakespeare’s Globe: A Theatrical Experiment (2008), pp. 40–1.
2. Nahum Tate, The History of King Richard the Second Acted at the Theatre Royal Under the Name of the Sicilian Usurper (1681), sig. A2.
3. Charles Beecher Hogan, Shakespeare in the Theatre 1709–1800 (1952).
4. Lewis Theobald, The Tragedy of King Richard the II; As It Is Acted at the Theatre in Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields (1720), sig. A2.
5. Theobald, The Tragedy of King Richard the II, p. 59.
6. Thomas Davies, Dramatic Miscellanies (1783–84), Vol. 1, pp. 151–3.
7. Davies, Dramatic Miscellanies, p. 124.
8. Margarida Gandara Rauen, “Richard II”: Playtexts, Promptbooks and History: 1597–1857 (1998), pp. 141–9.
9. William Hazlitt, A View of the English Stage (1818), p. 100.
10. Leah Scragg, “Introduction,” King Richard II: Richard Wroughton 1815 (1970).
11. Theodor Fontane, Shakespeare in the London Theatre 1855–58 (1999), pp. 52–3.
12. Punch 32 (January–June 1857), p. 124.
13. Birmingham Daily Gazette, 24 April 1896.
14. Malcolm Page, Richard II (1987), p. 48.
15. The Times, 19 November 1929.
16. The Times, 30 December 1952.
17. Birmingham Mail, 22 April 1933.
18. Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 25 April 1941.
19. Evening Dispatch, Birmingham, 24 May 1944.
20. Birmingham Mail, 14 June 1947.
21. Quoted in Margaret Shewring, Shakespeare in Performance: King Richard II (1996), p. 97.
22. News Chronicle, 26 March 1951.
23. Shewring, King Richard II, p. 88.
24. Shewring, King Richard II, p. 335.
25. Shewring, King Richard II, p. 231.
26. Eve-Marie Oesterlen, Cahiers Élisabéthains, Special Issue (2007), pp. 69–70.
27. Page, Richard II, p. 54.
28. The Times, 30 March 1972.
29. Henry Fenwick, Richard II: The BBC TV Shakespeare (1978), p. 24.
30. Michael Bogdanov and Michael Pennington, The English Shakespeare Company: The Story of “The Wars of the Roses” 1986–1989 (1990), p. 107.
31. Bogdanov and Pennington, The Story of “The Wars of the Roses,” p. 139.
32. John Pettigrew and Jamie Portman, Stratford: The First Thirty Years (1985), Vol. I, p. 175.
33. Terry Doran, Buffalo News, quoted in Pettigrew and Portman, Stratford, Vol. II, p. 159.
34. James Fenton, You Were Marvellous (1983), p. 257.
35. Independent, 14 June 1995.
36. Shewring, King Richard II, p. 182.
37. Observer, 9 October 2005.
38. Independent, 9 October 2005.
39. Sunday Times, 9 October 2005.
40. Telegraph, 6 October 2005.
41. Royal Shakespeare Company Season Guide 2007–2008, p. 7.
42. The queen is reported to have said this to William Lambarde, the keeper of the records of the Tower.
43. RSC Season Guide 2007–2008, p. 2.
44. Stuart Hampton-Reeves, “Theatrical Afterlives,” in Michael Hattaway, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays (2002), p. 229.
45. Theater program, 1951.
46. Hattaway, The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays, p. 354.
47. Jan Kott, Shakespeare Our Contemporary, trans. Boleslaw Taborski (1964), p. 10.
48. Colin Chambers, Inside the Royal Shakespeare Company (2004), p. 36.
49. Shewring, King Richard II, p. 98.
50. Coventry Evening Telegraph, 16 April 1964.
51. Birmingham Post, 16 April 1964.
52. Shrewring, King Richard II, pp. 100–1.
53. Harold Hobson, Sunday Times, 16 April 1964.
54. The Times, London, 16 April 1964.
55. Alan Dent, Financial Times, 16 April 1964.
56. Warwick Advertiser, 17 April 1964.
57. Irving Wardle, The Times, London, 11 April 1973.
58. Robert Shaughnessy, Representing Shakespeare: England, History and the RSC (1994), p. 91.
59. Ernst H. Kantorowicz, The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology (1957), p. 7.
60. James Stredder, “John Barton’s Production of Richard II at Stratford-on-Avon, 1973,” Shakespeare Jahrbuch (1976), p. 24.
61. Stredder, “John Barton’s Production of Richard II,” p. 25.
62. Stredder, “John Barton’s Production of Richard II
,” p. 29.
63. Andrew Gurr, ed., King Richard II (1984), p. 48.
64. B. A. Young, Financial Times, 11 April 1973.
65. Shaughnessy, Representing Shakespeare, p. 94.
66. Stanley Wells found the scene “illustrates a danger of Mr. Barton’s production methods; that, at their extremes, they were directing their audience what to think” (quoted in Shewring, King Richard II, pp. 124–5).
67. Michael Billington, Guardian, 12 April 1973.
68. J. C. Trewin, Birmingham Post, 11 April 1973.
69. Irving Wardle, The Times, London, 4 April 1980.
70. Chambers, Inside the Royal Shakespeare Company, p. 70.
71. Shaughnessy, Representing Shakespeare, pp. 64–5.
72. Irving Wardle, The Times, London, 5 November 1980.
73. Hampton-Reeves, “Theatrical Afterlives,” p. 239.
74. B. A. Young, Financial Times, 4 April 1980.
75. Shaughnessy, Representing Shakespeare, p. 61.
76. Wardle, The Times, 4 April 1980.
77. Shewring, King Richard II, p. 59.
78. Nicholas Shrimpton, “Shakespeare Performances in London, Manchester and Stratford-upon-Avon 1985–6,” Shakespeare Survey 40 (1988), p. 180.
79. Jane Edwardes, Time Out, 17 September 1986.
80. Stanley Wells, Times Literary Supplement, 26 September 1986.
81. Giles Gordon, Plays & Players, November 1986.
82. Eric Shorter, Daily Telegraph, 12 September 1986.
83. John Peter, Sunday Times, 14 September 1986.
84. RSC program, Richard II (1990). The quote is from Marie Louise Bruce, The Usurper King: Henry Bolingbroke 1366–99 (1986).
85. Maria Jones, Shakespeare’s Culture in Modern Performance (2003), p. 152, quoting Harry Eyres, The Times, London, 13 September 1991.
86. Jones, Shakespeare’s Culture in Modern Performance, p. 153.
87. Michael Coveney, Observer, 11 November 1990.
88. Michael Billington, Guardian, 9 November 1990.
89. Malcolm Rutherford, Financial Times, 12 September 1991.
90. Russell Jackson, “Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon: Summer and Fall, 2000,” Shakespeare Quarterly 52 (2001), p. 114.
91. Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times, 31 March 2000.
92. Susannah Clapp, Observer, 2 April 2000.
93. Michael Dobson, “Shakespeare Performances in England, 2000,” Shakespeare Survey, 45 (2001), p. 276.
94. Dobson, “Shakespeare Performances in England, 2000,” p. 276.
95. Patrick Carnegy, Spectator, 8 April 2000.
96. John Peter, Sunday Times, 9 April 2000.
97. John Gross, Sunday Telegraph, 2 April 2000.
98. Clapp, Observer, 2 April 2000.
99. Carole Woddis, Stratford Herald, 4 April 2000.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PICTURE CREDITS
Preparation of “Richard II in Performance” was assisted by a generous grant from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Thanks as always to our indefatigable and eagle-eyed copy editor Tracey Day and to Ray Addicott for overseeing the production process with rigor and calmness.
Picture research by Michelle Morton. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest) and reproduction fees.
Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This Library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company’s official archive. It is open to the public free of charge.
For more information see www.shakespeare.org.uk.
1. London Princess Theatre, directed by Charles Kean (1857). Reproduced by permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
2. Directed by Anthony Quayle (1951). Angus McBean © Royal Shakespeare Company
3. Directed by John Barton (1973). Joe Cocks Studio Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
4. Directed by Terry Hands (1980). Joe Cocks Studio Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
5. Directed by Barry Kyle (1986). Reg Wilson © Royal Shakespeare Company
6. Directed by Steven Pimlott (2000). Malcolm Davies © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
7. Directed by Michael Boyd (2007). Ellie Kurttz © Royal Shakespeare Company
8. Directed by Deborah Warner (1995). © Donald Cooper/photostage.co.uk
9. Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse © Charcoalblue
THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD
Maya Angelou
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A. S. Byatt
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Caleb Carr
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Christopher Cerf
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Harold Evans
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Charles Frazier
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Vartan Gregorian
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Jessica Hagedorn
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Richard Howard
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Charles Johnson
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Jon Krakauer
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Edmund Morris
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Azar Nafisi
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Joyce Carol Oates
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Elaine Pagels
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John Richardson
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Salman Rushdie
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Oliver Sacks
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Carolyn See
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Gore Vidal
John of Gaunt was named after his place of birth, Ghent
2 Hast thou have you—the familiar form used to intimates and inferiors band bond
3 Henry Hereford i.e. Bullingbrook; he had been created Duke of Hereford (pronounced as two syllables) by Richard in 1397
4 boist’rous violent late recent appeal binding accusation
5 our Richard uses the plural royal pronoun leisure i.e. lack of leisure
7 liege lord, superior entitled to feudal allegiance and service
8 sounded inquired of
9 on ancient out of long-standing
11 ground motive, cause
12 sift find by questioning argument topic
13 apparent manifest, obvious
14 inveterate long-standing
18 High-stomached proud/high-spirited/courageous/angry ire anger
21 gracious full of divine grace, holy/benevolent
22 still always
23 hap fortune
24 immortal title i.e. immortality (in heaven)
25 but only
26 well appeareth is plainly apparent you come i.e. about which you come
27 appeal accuse of a crime which the accuser undertakes to prove (especially of treason)
28 object charge
30 record witness
32 Tend’ring cherishing
33 misbegotten wrongfully conceived
34 appellant (as an) accuser
36 mark note, pay attention to
38 answer answer for
39 miscreant wretch, villain
40 good high-ranking
41 crystal clear, bright (heavenly bodies were thought to be contained within rotating crystal spheres)
43 aggravate emphasize, magnify note reproach, mark of disgrace
45 ere before
46 right justly, rightfully
47 cold deliberate, unimpassioned accuse i.e. diminish, cast doubt on zeal powerful feelings/loyalty
48 trial judgment, test
49 eager sharp, biting
50 Can arbitrate that can reach a judicial decision on cause matter of dispute betwixt between twain two
51 blood anger, passion/bodily blood cooled calmed/let flow (either through medical bloodletting or in death)
54 fair reverence of proper respec
t for
56 else otherwise post hasten
58 Setting … royalty regardless of his royal blood (Bullingbrook is Richard’s cousin, and grandson to Edward III; high blood plays on the sense of “extreme anger”)
59 let supposing
60 defy challenge to combat
62 odds the advantage
63 meet encounter in combat tied obliged
65 inhabitable not habitable
66 durst dares to
67 this i.e. the following accusation, or possibly Mowbray indicates his sword
69 gage pledge signifying a commitment to combat (usually a glove or gauntlet, thrown down to challenge the opponent)
72 except set aside
74 pawn gage
76 make good prove
77 thou canst devise you can invent
79 gently nobly/kindly/softly
80 in … degree to any just, honorable extent
82 light alight, dismount (from my horse)
83 unjustly dishonorably/in an unjust cause
84 lay … charge accuse Mowbray of
85 inherit us put us in possession
87 Look attend to, note
88 nobles gold coins
89 lendings advances on payment
90 lewd improper/vile
91 injurious harmful
93 Or either
96 Complotted plotted in conspiracy with others
97 Fetched drew/derived head source
100 Duke of Gloucester son of Edward III, hence Richard’s uncle and John of Gaunt’s brother; he was murdered in 1397 at Calais, while in the custody of Mowbray and, many believe, at Richard’s prompting
101 Suggest tempt, incite
103 Sluiced out let flow, flooded out
104 sacrificing sacrificial Abel in the Bible, killed by his brother Cain, the world’s first murderer
106 chastisement correction, punishment
109 pitch height (literally, the highest point in a falcon’s flight)
113 slander of disgrace to
118 my sceptre’s awe the reverence due to my scepter
119 neighbour neighboring, close
120 partialize make partial, bias
126 receipt amount received
130 Upon … account for the balance of a large debt
131 fetch historically Mowbray was involved in marriage negotiations on Richard’s behalf, though Richard escorted the French princess Isabel to England