Overview
This study considers the theatrical fortunes of Richard II from its politically controversial beginnings on the Elizabethan and Restoration stage to its various later interpretations responding to nineteenth and twentieth-century tastes and attitudes. A wide range of performances is documented and discussed. These illustrate the ways in which different theatres and companies (including the BBC and NBC/TV) have staged the play by cutting, restructuring or adding to Shakespeare’s script to highlight spectacle (Charles Kean, Jeremy Irons), the personality of the King (Benson, Gielgud, McKellen), the nature of authority (Richardson, Pasco, Jacobi) and the place of Richard in the overall sweep of English history (Redgrave, Warner, Pennington). The book also studies Richard II in relation to the politics and aesthetics of post-Second World War Europe with particular attention being given to productions by Jean Vilar, Giorgio Strehler and Ariane Mnouchkine.