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Beate Hein Bennett
The
Life and Death of King John
One of Shakespeare’s rarely performed history plays about the turbulent “Troublesome Reign” of King John (1199-1216) has found its way onto a New York stage with multiple resonances to our turbulent political era under “King” Donald J. Trump and his stacked House of Cards. The Smoking Mirror Company under the direction of John Gordon tackles this difficult script of convoluted historical events with multiple characters of questionable ethics playing with people’s lives, all in the arguable legitimate interest of a deadly ‘game of thrones.’ It is a game that Shakespeare portrayed in all of his history plays written during the 1590s, the late heady years of Queen Elizabeth I. The succession of kings in England centered for centuries on fierce dynastic rivalries with the successful winner (or usurper) depending on the loyalty of his followers, i.e. the nobles who hoped to gain influence and property by supporting the political ambitions of the wishful king. Many of these battles were fought throughout the centuries beyond the boundaries of England through alliances (and misalliances) in Europe, especially over territories in France that were inherited through marriages. Even the papacy was intensely involved in the political game of thrones, especially during the period of the Crusades which is the period of our play.
Director John Gordon, founder of the Smoking Mirror Company, has specialized for years on producing Shakespeare plays with a minimalist approach—truly “poor” theater inspired by Peter Brook’s minimalist aesthetic. For “King John” he has assembled a young company of actors to take on multiple roles of the cast of 20+ characters— except for Bellamy Woodside Ridinger who plays a mercurial KING JOHN and Mateu Parellada who plays a forceful BASTARD, PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, later dubbed by King John as Richard Plantagenet, since he is the illegitimate son of Richard I, the “Cordelion” aka “Richard Lionheart." For each individual actor this has meant an enormous challenge: memorizing a huge number of lines of Shakespearean complexity—much imagery and many metaphors that visualize ideas, difficult rhythms of irregular iambic pentameters—and switching characters in a quick succession of scenes. The generic black costumes (no costume designer listed) are accessorized with red sashes or stoles for the British characters and blue for the French and emphasize the fundamental sameness of all involved adults, whether it is in ambition, in cruelty, in loss, and in grief. The production’s gender mixing of the roles does not distract since it follows a familiar Elizabethan theatrical custom of gender bending by all male ensembles playing all female roles.
The play is a Dance of Death in process. The dance aspect is brought out in the battle scenes with interesting choreography by Bellamy Woodside Ridinger and executed with precision by the masked ensemble. Joe Travers directed the broadside sword fight between THE BASTARD/ RICHARD PLANTAGENET and the DUKE OF AUSTRIA aka LIMOGES, played by Tony Savage Thorn as a braggadocio adorned with a lion’s fur—that he won in a former battle with Richard I, the Coeur de Lion. After the sword fight, completed off-stage, THE BASTARD reappears victoriously with the chopped off head of LIMOGES and adorned in the lion fur. Another political actor between King Philip II of France, portrayed by Fareeda Pasha, and King John is the papal legate, Cardinal Pandulph, a shady character portrayed with malicious glee by Martin Challinor. Challinor changes to the Knight HUBERT, the almost assassin of the child Prince Arthur. Two other actors should be pointed out: Victoria Hedgeberry who plays QUEEN ELEANOR (of Aquitaine), King John’s mother and widow of King Henry II, with icy political ambition while she portrays the much maligned LADY FAULCONBRIDGE, the BASTARD’s adulterous mother with a plaintive quality. Ruby Rich, also listed as Assistant Director, is CONSTANCE, the widow of John’s elder brother Geoffrey and mother of Prince Arthur, the sacrificial lamb in this game—her death inviting aria of furious grief stops the assembled court in their squabbles for a few minutes.
It is clear that this young ensemble enjoys diving into Shakespeare, his text is delivered with verve though not always comprehensible, the roles are taken up with youthful passion as befits these passionate albeit morally misguided characters, and while some audience members may miss a more accomplished or elaborate production, at least one could enjoy the fact that there is nothing new about vicious power games but one is also be reminded that it takes a concerted effort to fight against “the slings of outrageous fortune” (Hamlet) when confronted with political choices.
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