King John/Henry VIII (Signet Classics) Read online

  Smallwood, Robert, ed., Players of Shakespeare 4 (1998). Features actors discussing their roles and performances in detail; Paul Jesson talks about playing Henry in Gregory Doran's 1996 production (pp. 114-31), and Jane Lapotaire talks about playing Katherine in the same production (pp. 132-51).

  AVAILABLE ON DVD

  The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth directed by Kevin Billington for the BBC Television Shakespeare Series (1979, DVD 2005). Excellent, televisually sophisticated version with John Stride, Claire Bloom, and Ronald Pickup: one of the best in this series.

  REFERENCES: KING JOHN

  AND HENRY VIII

  KING JOHN

  1. Francis Meres, Palladis Tamia. Wits Treasury (1598).

  2. Anthony Munday, Death of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon (1601), ed. John C. Meagher (1965).

  3. Emmett L. Avery, "Cibber, King John, and the Students of the Law," Modern Language Notes 53, 1938, pp. 272-75.

  4. Stanley Wells, ed., Nineteenth-Century Shakespeare Burlesques (1977).

  5. Thomas Davies, Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick (1784).

  6. Francis Gentleman, The Dramatic Censor (1770).

  7. Davies, Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick I, pp. 55-56.

  8. Thomas Campbell, Life of Mrs Siddons (1834), pp. 112-14.

  9. The Times (London), 25 October 1842.

  10. Hazlitt, London Magazine, 1820; quoted in Jonathan Bate, "The Romantic Stage," in Jonathan Bate and Russell Jackson, eds., Shakespeare: An Illustrated Stage History (1996).

  11. Bate, "The Romantic Stage."

  12. Henry N. Coleridge, ed., Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1836). Extract reprinted in Jonathan Bate, ed., The Romantics on Shakespeare (1992), p. 160.

  13. Alan S. Downer, The Eminent Tragedian William Charles Macready (1966), p. 69.

  14. Downer, The Eminent Tragedian William Charles Macready, p. 80.

  15. A. B. Walkley, "Review of King John," The Speaker, 30 September 1899. Reprinted in H. H. Furness, ed., The New Variorum Edition of King John (1919), p. 689.

  16. See Campbell's biography of Mrs. Siddons (Campbell, Life of Mrs Siddons, particularly pp. 117-18).

  17. Daily Telegraph, 17 April 1957.

  18. Geraldine Cousin, King John (Shakespeare in Performance Series) (1994).

  19. The Times (London), 4 May 1989.

  20. Charles Spencer, "Second-Rate Shakespeare," Daily Telegraph, 9 March 2001.

  21. Kate Bassett, "Three Rattling Nights Out With a Loutish King, One Trollop and a Paedophile," Independent on Sunday, 11 March 2001.

  22. Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 19 April 1957.

  23. Bate, "The Romantic Stage," p. 107.

  24. Michael R. Booth, Victorian Spectacular Theatre, 1850-1910 (1981); Martin Meisel, Realizations: Narrative, Pictorial, and Theatrical Arts in Nineteenth-Century England (1983).

  25. Meisel, Realizations, p. 38.

  26. James Robinson Planche, The Recollections and Reflections of J.R. Planche (Somerset Herald): A Professional Autobiography (1872), pp. 56-57.

  27. Charles H. Shattuck, William Charles Macready's King John (1962).

  28. Ibid.

  29. Ibid.

  30. All of these features of Tree's production may be gleaned from a contemporary review by Max Beerbohm, Tree's half-brother: Max Beerbohm, "Review of King John," Saturday Review, 30 September 1899, reprinted in Max Beerbohm, More Theatres, 1898-1903 (1969), pp. 191-93.

  31. Antony Davies, "From the Old Vic to Gielgud and Olivier," in Bate and Jackson, Shakespeare: An Illustrated Stage History, pp. 139-59.

  32. Clause 39 states that "no free man shall be ... imprisoned or dispossessed ... except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land."

  33. John Palmer, Political Characters of Shakespeare (1945), p. 322.

  34. Malcolm A. Nelson, The Robin Hood Tradition in the English Renaissance (1973).

  35. F. J. Child, ed., English and Scottish Popular Ballads, five vols. (1882-98) (reprinted 1965); R. B. Dobson and J. Taylor, eds., Rymes of Robin Hode: An Introduction to the English Outlaw (1976).

  36. See for example Kenneth McClellan, Whatever Happened to Shakespeare? (1978); Cousin, King John.

  37. See for example Jonathan Bate, Shakespearean Constitutions: Politics, Theatre, Criticism (1989); A. R. Braunmuller, ed., The Oxford Shakespeare Edition of King John (1989).

  38. Spectator, 12 June 1970.

  39. New Statesman, 19 June 1970; quoted in Cousin, King John, p. 63.

  40. Peter Thomson, "A Necessary Theatre: The Royal Shakespeare Season 1970 Reviewed," Shakespeare Survey 24, 1971, pp. 117-26.

  41. Observer, 24 March 1974.

  42. R. L. Smallwood, "Shakespeare Unbalanced: The Royal Shakespeare Company's King John, 1974-75," Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft West Jahrbuch, 1976, pp. 79-99.

  43. Peter Thomson, "The Smallest Season: The Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford in 1974," Shakespeare Survey 28, 1975, pp. 137-48.

  44. Cousin, King John, p. 101.

  45. Daily Telegraph, 30 May 1988.

  46. Observer, 15 May 1988.

  47. Cousin, King John, p. 116.

  48. The Times, 4 May 1989.

  49. Daily Telegraph, 30 May 1988.

  50. Independent, 12 May 1988.

  51. Financial Times, 12 May 1988.

  52. Ibid.

  53. Michael Billington, "Bold Return for Shakespeare's Orphan," Guardian, 8 March 2001.

  54. Charles Spencer "Laying Bare the Dark Heart of the Political Process," Daily Telegraph, 30 March 2001.

  55. Billington, "Bold Return for Shakespeare's Orphan."

  56. Adrien Bonjour, "The Road to Swinstead Abbey: A Study of the Sense and Structure of King John," ELH, Vol. 18, No. 4, December 1951, pp. 253-74.

  57. The Times (London), 25 October 1842; quoted in Shattuck, William Charles Macready's King John, p. 49.

  58. Kate Bassett, "Ullo John, Got a Zippy Satirical and Welcome New Staging?" Independent on Sunday, 1 April 2001.

  59. John Peter, Sunday Times (London), 1 April 2001.

  60. Michael Billington, "A Kingly Klutz in Stratford," Guardian, 30 March 2001.

  61. Independent, 8 August 2006.

  62. Independent, 8 August 2006.

  63. Daily Telegraph, 7 August 2006.

  HENRY VIII

  64. Sir Henry Wotton, letter dated 2 July 1613, in Logan Pearsall Smith, ed., The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton (1970); also available at: www.globe-theatre.org.uk/globe-theatre-fire.htm.

  65. John Downes, Roscius Anglicanus (1708).

  66. William Winter, "King Henry VIII--Historical Comment," in Shakespeare on the Stage (1911), pp. 516-64.

  67. The Times (London), 21 October 1811.

  68. Ibid.

  69. Ibid.

  70. Percy Fitzgerald, "Kemble Manager," The Kembles, Vol. I (1871), pp. 276-97.

  71. Lewis Carroll, diary entry for 22 June 1855, The Diaries of Lewis Carroll, Vol. I, ed. Roger Lancelyn Green (1953), pp. 53-54.

  72. C. B. Young, "The Stage History of 'Henry VIII,' " in Henry the Eighth (1962), pp. xxxviii-l.

  73. Carroll, The Diaries of Lewis Carroll, Vol. I.

  74. Young, "The Stage History of 'Henry VIII.' "

  75. Ibid.

  76. George C. D. Odell, "Scenery and Stage Decoration: Irving's 'Henry VIII' 1892," Shakespeare: From Betterton to Irving (1920, reprinted 1963), pp. 444-46.

  77. John Rankin Towse, "Henry Irving and Ellen Terry," Sixty Years of the Theatre: An Old Critic's Memories (1916), pp. 286-317.

  78. Ibid.

  79. Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Henry VIII and His Court (1910).

  80. J. C. Trewin, "End of an Era: 1906-1913," Shakespeare on the English Stage, 1900-1964: A Survey of Productions (1964), pp. 38-50.

  81. Sporting Life, 26 January 1911.

  82. Winter, "King Henry VIII--Historical Comment."

  83. Margaret Webster, Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage (1972).
r />   84. "International News," Shakespeare Survey 1, 1948, pp. 112-17.

  85. George Jean Nathan, The Theatre Book of the Year, 1946 & 1947, pp. 156-58.

  86. "International News," Shakespeare Survey 1, 1948.

  87. Linda McJ. Micheli, "Margaret Webster's 'Henry VIII': The Survival of 'Scenic Shakespeare' in America," Theatre Research International, Vol. II, No. 3, Autumn 1986, pp. 213-22.

  88. Ibid.

  89. Ibid.

  90. Muriel St. Clare Byrne, Shakespeare Survey 3, 1950, pp. 120-29.

  91. Ibid.

  92. Alice Venezky, "The 1950 Season at Stratford-upon-Avon--A Memorable Achievement in Stage History," Shakespeare Quarterly II, 1951, pp. 73-77.

  93. Ibid.

  94. Muriel St. Clare Byrne, Shakespeare Survey 3.

  95. Robert Herring, Life and Letters and The London Mercury, Vol. 62, July-September 1949, pp. 217-18.

  96. Audrey Williamson, "Coronation Fanfare," Contemporary Theatre: 1953-1956 (1956), pp. 1-21.

  97. Hugh M. Richmond, Shakespeare in Performance: King Henry VIII (1994), p. 111.

  98. Richmond, King Henry VIII, p. 109.

  99. Richmond, King Henry VIII, p. 119.

  100. Richmond, King Henry VIII, p. 109.

  101. Herbert S. Weil Jr, Shakespeare Quarterly 38, Summer 1987, p. 238.

  102. Benedict Nightingale, The Times (London), 24 May 1991.

  103. Greg Evans, Variety, Vol. 367, No. 9, 30 June 1997, p. 72.

  104. Evans, Variety.

  105. Ben Brantley, New York Times, 27 June 1997, p. C3.

  106. Brantley, New York Times, 27 June 1997.

  107. James Rampton, Independent, 8 October 2003.

  108. Rob Reid, Record, 24 August 2004, p. B4.

  109. Reid, Record, 24 August 2004.

  110. Paul Taylor, Independent, 30 August 2006.

  111. Liisa Spink, Cahiers Elisabethain, Complete Works Festival Special Issue (2007), p. 51.

  112. Spink, Cahiers Elisabethain, Complete Works Festival Special Issue.

  113. Michael Billington, Guardian, 26 August 2006.

  114. Ibid.

  115. Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 26 August 2006.

  116. Morning Star, 30 August 2006.

  117. Taylor, Independent, 30 August 2006.

  118. Billington, Guardian, 26 August 2006.

  119. Paul Taylor, Independent, 27 May 2010.

  120. Ibid.

  121. Charles Spencer, Telegraph, 25 May 2010.

  122. Taylor, Independent, 27 May 2010.

  123. Spencer, Telegraph, 25 May 2010.

  124. Taylor, Independent, 27 May 2010.

  125. Hilary Spurling, Spectator, 18 October 1969.

  126. Misha Glenny, Tribune, 8 July 1983.

  127. Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard, 27 November 1996.

  128. Richmond, Shakespeare in Performance: Henry VIII, p. 16.

  129. Trevor Nunn, Henry VIII RSC programme notes, 1969.

  130. Daily Telegraph, 10 October 1969.

  131. B. A. Young, Financial Times, 10 October 1969.

  132. Irving Wardle, The Times (London), 11 October 1969.

  133. Ibid.

  134. Ibid.

  135. Young, Financial Times, 10 October 1969.

  136. Harold Hobson, Sunday Times (London), 12 October 1969.

  137. Spurling, Spectator, 18 October 1969.

  138. Ronald Bryden, Observer, 12 October 1969.

  139. D.A.N. Jones, The Listener, 16 October 1969.

  140. Richmond, Shakespeare in Performance: King Henry VIII, p. 17.

  141. Irving Wardle, The Times (London), 16 June 1983.

  142. Ibid.

  143. James Fenton, Sunday Times (London), 19 June 1983.

  144. Gregory Doran, RSC programme notes, 1996.

  145. Michael Billington, Guardian, 28 November 1996.

  146. Shaun Usher, Daily Mail, 29 November 1996.

  147. Billington, Guardian, 28 November 1996.

  148. Richmond, Shakespeare in Performance: King Henry VIII, p. 145.

  149. Giles Gordon, Spectator, 22 November 1983.

  150. Donald Sinden, Laughter in the Second Act (1985), p. 267.

  151. Paul Lapworth, Stratford Herald, 28 November 1996.

  152. Philip Brockbank, Times Literary Supplement, 24 June 1983.

  153. Brockbank, Times Literary Supplement, 24 June 1983.

  154. John Barber, Daily Telegraph, 10 October 1969.

  155. Wotton, letter dated 2 July 1613.

  156. Richmond, Shakespeare in Performance: King Henry VIII, p. 3.

  157. Margot Heinemann, Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Drama, ed. A. R. Braunmuller and Michael Hattaway (1990), p. 179.

  158. Richmond, Shakespeare in Performance: King Henry VIII, p. 24.

  159. Sinden, Laughter in the Second Act, pp. 199-200.

  160. Ibid.

  161. Richmond, Shakespeare in Performance: King Henry VIII, p. 25.

  162. K.E.B., Nottingham Evening Post, 10 October 1969.

  163. Sinden, Laughter in the Second Act, p. 267.

  164. Richard Griffiths, in an interview for the Guardian, 14 June 1983.

  165. Ned Chaillot, Wall Street Journal, 1 July 1983.

  166. J. C. Trewin, The Lady, 30 June 1983.

  167. Sheridan Morley, Punch, 22 June 1983.

  168. Benedict Nightingale, The Times (London), 28 November 1996.

  169. Shaun Usher, Daily Mail, 29 November 1996.

  170. Keith Brace, Birmingham Post, 10 October 1969.

  171. John Barber, Daily Telegraph, 10 October 1969.

  172. Brace, Birmingham Post, 10 October 1969.

  173. Nightingale, The Times, 28 November 1996.

  174. Paul Lapworth, Stratford Herald, 28 November 1996.

  175. Gordon Parsons, Morning Star, 11 October 1969.

  176. Charles Landstone, Jewish Chronicle, 16 October 1969.

  177. Betty Smith, Stratford Herald, 24 June 1983.

  178. Ned Chaillot, Wall Street Journal, 1 July 1983.

  179. Ian Hogg, in an interview with Terry Grierley for the Birmingham Post, 26 November 1996.

  180. Billington, Guardian, 28 November 1996.

  181. Naomi Koppel, Evening Standard, 29 November 1996.

  182. Philip Hope-Wallace, Arts Guardian, 10 October 1969.

  183. Parsons, Morning Star, 11 October 1969.

  184. Young, Financial Times, 10 October 1969.

  185. Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times, 28 November 1996.

  186. Macaulay, Financial Times, 28 November 1996.

  187. Judith H. Anderson, Biographical Truth: The Representation of Historical Persons in Tudor-Stuart Writing (1984), p. 13.

  The RSC Shakespeare

  Edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen

  Chief Associate Editors: Jan Sewell and Will Sharpe

  Associate Editors: Trey Jansen, Eleanor Lowe, Lucy Munro,

  Dee Anna Phares, Heloise Senechal

  King John & Henry VIII

  Textual editing: Eleanor Lowe and Eric Rasmussen

  Introduction and "Shakespeare's Career in the Theater": Jonathan Bate

  Commentary: Eleanor Lowe and Heloise Senechal

  Scene-by-Scene Analyses: Jan Sewell

  In Performance: Mark Taylor (King John), Jan Sewell (Henry VIII)

  The Director's Cut (interviews by Jan Sewell and Kevin Wright):

  Gregory Doran, Josie Rourke, and Gregory Thompson

  Editorial Advisory Board

  Gregory Doran, Chief Associate Director, Royal Shakespeare Company

  Jim Davis, Professor of Theatre Studies, University of Warwick, UK

  Charles Edelman, Senior Lecturer, Edith Cowan University,

  Western Australia

  Lukas Erne, Professor of Modern English Literature,

  Universite de Geneve, Switzerland

  Akiko Kusunoki, Tokyo Woman's Christian University, Japan

  Jacqui O'Hanlon, Director of Education, Royal
Shakespeare Company

  Ron Rosenbaum, author and journalist, New York, USA

  James Shapiro, Professor of English and Comparative Literature,

  Columbia University, USA

  Tiffany Stern, Professor of English, University of Oxford, UK

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PICTURE CREDITS

  Preparation of "King John in Performance" and "Henry VIII 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 Dando, 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. Directed by Douglas Seale (1957). Tom Holte (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  2. Directed by Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1899). Reproduced by permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  3. Directed by Buzz Goodbody (1970). Joe Cocks Studio Collection (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  4. Directed by Deborah Warner (1988). Joe Cocks Studio Collection (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  5. Directed by Josie Rourke (2006). Stewart Hemley (c) Royal Shakespeare Company

  6. Directed by Gregory Doran (2001). Malcolm Davies (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  7. Directed by Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1910). Reproduced by permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  8. Directed by Trevor Nunn (1969). Tom Holte (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  9. Directed by Howard Davies (1983). Joe Cocks Studio Collection (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  10. Directed by Gregory Doran (1996). Malcolm Davies (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  11. Directed by Gregory Thompson (2006). Ellie Kurttz (c) Royal Shakespeare Company

  12. Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse (c) 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