Richard II, part 2

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Everyone ready for more Richard II? When we last left our dysfunctional group of noblemen, there was going to be a super-exciting duel to the death. Let's see how that turns out...

Fun Fact: Henry (a.k.a the Duke of Hereford, a.k.a. John of Gaunt's son) is called "Bolingbroke" because he was born in Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire. If we did this today, Prince William & Catherine's son George might be known as "Paddington", which, I think we can all agree, would make the world a better place.

The Story So Far: Everybody knows Richard probably ordered the Duke of Gloucester's death, so when Richard's cousin Henry (a.k.a. Bolingbroke) accuses Thomas Mowbray (a.k.a. the Duke of Norfolk) of having killed Gloucester, presumably on Richard's behalf, things get all awkward. Bolingbroke and Mowbray are about to engage in trial by combat when Richard decides it would be a lot neater if neither of them were around anymore, so he banishes both of them: Henry for six years and Mowbray for life. Still with me? Right, moving on...

That's all for today! Now, usually I update this thing only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, in order to keep me from going completely insane, but my friend has insisted I finish this before I drag her to see the RSC encore screening of their current Richard II production on December 8, so I will be attempting to post updates every weekday between now and then. Check back tomorrow for Act 2, Scene 1, in which John of Gaunt finally gets to give his big speech!

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Richard II, part 1

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1  | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Let's get this show on the road! Hold on to your metaphorical hats! Everybody on board the Plantagenet train! Woo! Woo! If you missed my cast listing of Richard II, you can check it out here. Now.... charge!

Still awake? Good, because the play hasn't actually started yet. That was just what happened before the play starts, only everyone keeps referring to it during the play, so you kind of need to know it. Onward!

Time for a quiz!

Q1: Richard is...

A. King
B. Queen
C. Prime Minister
D. A lizard

Q2: Henry (aka Bolingbroke) is...

A. Richard's cousin
B. Richard's son
C. Richard's brother
D. Richard's aunt

Q3: St. Lambert's Day is...

A. September 17
B. October 25
C. February 14
D. Something Shakespeare made up

If you answered "A" to all of them, congratulations! You pass. If you missed the last one, that's OK too. I don't have the Calendar of Saints memorized either. I had to look St. Lambert up on Wikipedia.

That's all for today! Join me again on Monday for Act 1, scenes 3 and 4, in which Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray almost fight a really exciting duel to the death, and then Richard's new favorites gossip cattily among themselves.

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1  | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Ladies-in-Entertaining

First of all, thanks to all my new Twitter followers for... following me on Twitter! I drew a special Thursday fun-time bonus comic just for you.

So, I left a couple fun characters off of yesterday's Richard II cast list, namely the Queen's long-suffering ladies-in-waiting. They are only in one scene, but they try so hard to cheer up the Queen that I thought I ought to honor their efforts here. I've also retroactively added them to the cast list. Rock on, ladies-in-waiting. Rock on.

Richard II: Dramatis Personae

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1  | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Richard II in one sentence: A king called Richard II makes everyone angry when he starts raising taxes and seizing other people's lands, so they depose him and put his cousin Henry on the throne instead. 

The challenge: to present Shakespeare's history plays in a way that makes them comprehensible to those who, unlike myself, haven't spent the last ten years memorizing Plantagenet family trees for fun, but have instead been productive and useful members of society. It's not easy, but hopefully this makes Richard II slightly more accessible. 

...oh who am I kidding? It's still totally incomprehensible, isn't it? Stick with me! It's a fantastic play, and I promise you it's worth it! Look for more Richard II cartoons in the near future, partly because it is rapidly becoming one of my favorite plays, and partly because cinemas around the world are still intermittently screening the RSC's recent production of Richard II, starring David Tennant, and you should go see it.

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1  | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10