King John & Henry VIII Read online

  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).

  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 Elisabéthain, Complete Works Festival Special Issue (2007), p. 51.

  112. Spink, Cahiers Elisabéthain, 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, Héloïse Sénéchal

  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 Héloïse Sénéchal

  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,

  Université de Genève, 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 © 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 © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

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

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

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

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

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

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

  12. Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse © Charcoalblue

  THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD

  Maya Angelou

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  A. S. Byatt

  •

  Caleb Carr

  •

  Christopher Cerf

  •

  Harold Evans

  •

  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

  •

  Elaine Pagels

  •

  John Richardson

  •

  Salman Rushdie

  •

  Oliver Sacks

  •

  Carolyn See

  •

  Gore Vidal

  1.1 Location: England

  1.1 King John youngest son of Henry II and Elinor; born 1166, reigned 1199–1216

  1.1 Queen Elinor daughter of William V, Duke of Aquitaine; she married and divorced Louis VII of France before marrying Henry II of England

  1 would France does the King of France want

  3 behaviour person, i.e. through me

  3 majesty sovereignty, splendor

  4 borrowed assumed/feigned

  6 embassy message (from the ambassador)

  7 Philip of France King Philip II, son of Louis VII; lived 1165–1223, reigned from 1180

  8 Geoffrey fourth son of Henry II

  9 Arthur Plantagenet son of Geoffrey and Constance

  10 territories dominions/dependencies

  11 Poitiers i.e. the province of Poitou

  12 sword i.e. state control

  13 sways rules, controls

  13 several various/individual

  15 right by right, i.e. true

  16 disallow of refuse

  17 control constraint/mastery

  22 embassy message/ambassadorial role

  25 ere before

  25 report deliver your message/make the noise of a cannon or of thunder

  27 hence go from here

  27 trumpet herald/musical wind instrument used to announce important arrivals

  28 sullen presage gloomy portent

  28 decay downfall/death

  29 conduct escort

  32 Constance heiress of Conan IV, Duke of Brittany; married Geoffrey in 1181 with whom she had Arthur

  33 kindled stirred up, inflamed

  33 France king and nation

  34 Upon on behalf of

  34 party part, side

  35 made whole i.e. resolved

  36 arguments proofs

  36 love friendship

  37 manage management, government

  38 issue outcome

  44 liege lord

  44 controversy dispute

  46 produce bring out

  49 expeditious charge sudden cost

  55 Coeur-de-lion Richard I, nicknamed “the Lionheart”

  55 field battlefield

  63 put you o’er direct you

  63 heaven here and on several subsequent occasions “heaven” may be an alteration from “God,” following 1606 Parliamentary “Act to restrain the Abuses of Players”

  65 Out on thee expression of indignation

  65 rude uncivilized

  66 diffidence mistrust

  69 a he

  69 pops me out disinherits me

  70 fair fully

  75 once in a word/at some time

  76 whe’er whether

  76 true begot honorably conceived, legitimate

  77 lay … head i.e. leave my mother to answer

  79 Fair fall may good fortune befall

  84 like similar

  85 madcap lunatic/wild fellow

  85 lent brought

  86 trick distinctive look, habit

  87 affecteth imitates, assumes the character of

  88 tokens signs, evidence

  89 large composition general/robust constitution

  90 parts qualities

  91 Sirrah sir (used to an inferior)

  92 move prompt


  93 half-face profile/thin face

  94 face plays on the sense of “brazen defiance”

  95 half-faced groat coin worth four old pence with the monarch’s face in profile; also, “imperfect/insignificant”

  96 when that when

  97 Your brother i.e. Richard I, Coeur-de-lion

  99 tale story (perhaps plays on sense of “genitals”)

  99 employed made use of/occupied sexually

  102 treat of discuss

  102 high important

  102 touching relating to/affecting

  104 sojourned stayed

  105 prevail gain the mastery/succeed in attaining/persuade

  109 lusty vigorous, lively (plays on the sense of “product of lust”)

  109 got begot, conceived

  111 took … death i.e. swore most solemnly

  114 before … time i.e. before the full nine months were up

  119 did play false was unfaithful

  119 fault sin, moral defect (may play on the sense of “vagina”)

  120 lies … hazards i.e. is one of the risks

  121 how what

  121 brother i.e. Richard I

  124 sooth truth

  124 kept … world the owner of a cow has the right to keep any calf born of that cow

  128 refuse him spurn Philip (the Bastard)

  128 concludes settles it

  131 will legal testament/wishes

  134 will wish/carnal desire/penis

  135 Whether which of the two

  137 reputed recognized/supposed

  138 presence self/personal dignity

  139 an if if

  139 shape appearance

  140 Sir … him i.e. that resembles Sir Robert’s

  141 riding-rods horse whips, i.e. skinny

  143 in behind

  144 three-farthings the thin three-farthing coin bore the queen’s image in front of a rose

  145 to his shape in addition to having his inherited physical appearance

  146 Would I might may I

  147 it every foot every foot of it

  147 this i.e. my own

  148 Nob nickname for Robert (puns on senses of “head/head of the family”)

  148 case puns on the sense of “face/appearance”

  154 dear expensive, because more than a groat (fourpence)

  156 thither i.e. to death

  157 give … way allow our superiors to go first, as is polite

  161 form likeness, image

  162 rise some editors emend to “arise” for the sake of meter

  166 hour possible pun on “whore”

  169 grandam grandmother

  170 truth chaste loyalty

  170 what though what of that

  171 Something about in a somewhat indirect way