In yesterday's post Henry the Sixth imagined himself measuring out his life as a shepherd. Today Richard the Second imagines himself as an actual clock. We're back at Act Five. I tried to differentiate this a little more from the previous run by having Richard lose his voice in prison, but it made him even harder to understand so that's not what you'll see. You will see a lot of sweat, so apologies, particularly for one specific drop which threatens to upstage me for possibly two whole scenes. I thought it might help something or
other if I left it hanging on the end of my nose unwiped. Help what? Empathy? Realism?
Continuity? Who knows, these are shot on the fly. Also it might sound like I'm doing an Alec Guinness impression, but that's unintentional and ultimately okay surely. I'm sure he would have made a great Richard.
Thought so - Shakespeare's always been very good to the wonky looking and fey. I'm getting maybe a little too used to editing footage of myself gulping, sighing and giving wry, sideways looks however, so it will be good to move onto something more rambunctious, which Henry the Fourth is certainly supposed to be. Here are some questions to accompany your viewing of Act Five in the meantime, should you so wish: Is York's discovery of Aumerle's plot actually directly responsible for Richard's death? Should I have read some Holinshed before embarking on this? Should I have read some Ovid too while we're at it? I'm supposed to be a Shakespeare enthusiast so why have I never gone anywhere near his two massive influences? Should I stop using a sepia filter? Orson Welles said people shot in colour just look like meat, so maybe not? Oh, and is it the groom who's playing the music in prison? Here is a playlist of the "Formal" (better) Run in its entirety. And here's the final act:
Makes sense that doing away with the deposed king would prevent any further plot aimed at putting him back on the throne. Speaking of which, I'm not entirely sure if we're supposed to take Exton's word for it - 'it' being of course Henry covertly ordering Richard's murder - but it's somewhat ironic that he gets exiled for this very reason, given how this whole sorry mess started in the first place.
As for York, I get his eagerness to prove his loyalty to the newly crowned king, but begging for his son's death when Henry has already shown his willingness to pardon him makes very little sense to me. I'm guessing it's a matter of honour or something of the sort, but that doesn't make it any less jarring to my - undoubtedly historically untrained - ear. (Which reminds me, as much as I enjoyed The Hollow Crown adaptation of this play, I can't help but think that [spoilers] having Aumerle fill in for Exton at the end was a terrible decision, and horribly out of character on top of that.)
Oh, and I hadn't actually thought about the groom as the one playing the music Richard can hear during his final monologue, but that's probably the only reasonable explanation - other than Richard hallucinating it, for some reason. Who else would play music to a jailed king? (Unless they're playing for their own amusement, come to think of it. Also, this song just came up as I'm finishing writing this comment, and I think the beginning of it would work excellently for that particular scene.)
Looking forward to getting to know Henry IV better in the next play.
At least Mowbray was only exiled from England; Exton's banished from daylight - so I don't know if he's actually banished but I think we're definitely supposed to see the parallels, and Bolingbroke probably sees them too - it's going to be a lot harder to pretend to be the hero. I came no closer to providing a better explanation for York beyond his own. And I was trying to remember which production had Aumerle kill Richard. At least it rounds off his story, if he has to prove his loyalty to Henry. There are a lot of loose ends to this play. I watched David Tennant's prison speech last night. It might be the highlight. A penny whistle's playing, not particularly well. It's delicious and made me wish I could play an instrument. Full Shakespeare's always going to seem quite internalised, but Richard actually hearing evidence of an outside world is very effective. (They lose the clock metaphor though, and who can blame them?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNHtZ8D7Yps Thanks for the song, and for all your contributions.
I finally got around to watching the RSC production starring David Tennant in full, and I think they pretty much nailed the whole 'God-appointed show off' business. Oh, and I quite liked their Bolingbroke and York, too - more believable, I'd say, or at least more fully-rounded as characters than the text itself would grant them to be. Also, [again, spoilers] it would appear that as far as artistic licences go, having Aumerle standing in for Exton is not as uncommon as I thought it would be. (And for all that I can't say I'm particularly sold on the idea, I'll admit that it does sort of make sense both in the general context of Richard portraying himself as Jesus betrayed by Judas, and the fact that it's just a little bit weird to have Richard murdered by a character who we haven't met before.)
Makes sense that doing away with the deposed king would prevent any further plot aimed at putting him back on the throne. Speaking of which, I'm not entirely sure if we're supposed to take Exton's word for it - 'it' being of course Henry covertly ordering Richard's murder - but it's somewhat ironic that he gets exiled for this very reason, given how this whole sorry mess started in the first place.
ReplyDeleteAs for York, I get his eagerness to prove his loyalty to the newly crowned king, but begging for his son's death when Henry has already shown his willingness to pardon him makes very little sense to me. I'm guessing it's a matter of honour or something of the sort, but that doesn't make it any less jarring to my - undoubtedly historically untrained - ear. (Which reminds me, as much as I enjoyed The Hollow Crown adaptation of this play, I can't help but think that [spoilers] having Aumerle fill in for Exton at the end was a terrible decision, and horribly out of character on top of that.)
Oh, and I hadn't actually thought about the groom as the one playing the music Richard can hear during his final monologue, but that's probably the only reasonable explanation - other than Richard hallucinating it, for some reason. Who else would play music to a jailed king? (Unless they're playing for their own amusement, come to think of it. Also, this song just came up as I'm finishing writing this comment, and I think the beginning of it would work excellently for that particular scene.)
Looking forward to getting to know Henry IV better in the next play.
At least Mowbray was only exiled from England; Exton's banished from daylight - so I don't know if he's actually banished but I think we're definitely supposed to see the parallels, and Bolingbroke probably sees them too - it's going to be a lot harder to pretend to be the hero.
ReplyDeleteI came no closer to providing a better explanation for York beyond his own. And I was trying to remember which production had Aumerle kill Richard. At least it rounds off his story, if he has to prove his loyalty to Henry. There are a lot of loose ends to this play.
I watched David Tennant's prison speech last night. It might be the highlight. A penny whistle's playing, not particularly well. It's delicious and made me wish I could play an instrument. Full Shakespeare's always going to seem quite internalised, but Richard actually hearing evidence of an outside world is very effective. (They lose the clock metaphor though, and who can blame them?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNHtZ8D7Yps
Thanks for the song, and for all your contributions.
I finally got around to watching the RSC production starring David Tennant in full, and I think they pretty much nailed the whole 'God-appointed show off' business. Oh, and I quite liked their Bolingbroke and York, too - more believable, I'd say, or at least more fully-rounded as characters than the text itself would grant them to be. Also, [again, spoilers] it would appear that as far as artistic licences go, having Aumerle standing in for Exton is not as uncommon as I thought it would be. (And for all that I can't say I'm particularly sold on the idea, I'll admit that it does sort of make sense both in the general context of Richard portraying himself as Jesus betrayed by Judas, and the fact that it's just a little bit weird to have Richard murdered by a character who we haven't met before.)
ReplyDelete