Richard II (30 Jun. 2012)

Fey,vain and foolish,young Richard initiates his downfall by banishing Henry Bolingbroke and the Earl of Mowbray as a resolution to their feud and then confiscating the lands of his uncle,... See full summary »

Director:

Rupert Goold

Writers:

Rupert Goold (screenplay), William Shakespeare (play)

Stars:

David Bradley, Richard Bremmer, Daniel Boyd

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
David Bradley	...	The Gardener
Richard Bremmer	...	Abbot of Westminster
Daniel Boyd	...	Groom
Peter De Jersey	...	Lord Ross
Lindsay Duncan	...	Duchess of York
Tom Goodman-Hill	...	Sir Stephen Scroop
Harry Hadden-Paton	...	Sir Henry Green
Tom Hughes	...	Duke of Aumerle
Ferdinand Kingsley	...	Sir John Bushy
Rory Kinnear	...	Bolingbroke
Isabella Laughland	...	The Queen's Serving Lady
Finbar Lynch	...	Lord Marshall
Rhodri Wyn Miles	...	Welsh Captain (as Rhodri Miles)
David Morrissey	...	Earl of Northumberland
Lucian Msamati	...	Bishop of Carlisle

Storyline

Fey,vain and foolish,young Richard initiates his downfall by banishing Henry Bolingbroke and the Earl of Mowbray as a resolution to their feud and then confiscating the lands of his uncle,Bolingbroke's father John of Gaunt,on John's death,to pay for a war in Ireland which he loses. This angers many courtiers including the Duke of York,who welcome Bolingbroke back to England,where he executes Richard's flatterers. The king himself is soon taken prisoner and murdered in his cell. Bolingbroke,now proclaiming himself Henry IV,vows a pilgrimage to atone for his part in the regicide.

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Plot Keywords:

shakespeare's richard ii | based on play | character name in title

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 June 2012 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Packwood House, Lapworth, Warwickshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

NBC Universal Television, Neal Street Productions, WNET

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Pembroke castle, the castle with the large tower in the film, was inherited by Richard the second following the death, in a jousting accident, of its owner John Hastings in 1389. Pembroke castle was the birthplace of the real King Henry 7th in 1457.

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Goofs

Characters repeatedly mispronounce "Hereford" as "Hair-ford". The character is called "HERFORD" in the text. That is how Shakespeare wrote it and intended it to be said - the production is respecting that. Pronouncing it "Hereford" doesn't fit the poetic metre. Spellings and pronunciations were simply far more variable then.

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Connections

Followed by The Hollow Crown: Henry IV, Part 1 (2012)

User Reviews

Almost perfect

The best Shakespeare on film since McKellen's Richard III.

Unfairly unloved, perhaps because of the unfamiliar politics in it opening scenes, Richard II is Shakespeare's watershed. It has much in it which would have been familiar to the Elizabethan theatre goer-but also contains mountains of innovation, such as Richard's soliloquy after his confinement, which look forward to Hamlet and beyond. This is the play where iambic pentameter really broke free of its rhyming chains and although not everyone can place it correctly, Richard II contains some of Shakespeare's finest poetry.

And what a fantastic Richard we have in Ben Whishaw, delivering the personal tragedy and the political betrayal with the combination of power and finesse that the role demands but rarely receives. Even Ian McKellen, in his landmark production for the BBC in the 80's, didn't catch the sheer majesty of Richard's defiant surrender at Flint castle.

The entire cast is outstanding and the producers did well to enlist two great female actresses for the parts of Isabella and the Duchess of York and retain the bulk of parts that are often cut to shreds. Retaining more of Isabella's lines would have helped Clemence Poesy make her Queen memorable but no on will forget Lindsay Duncan's rescue of her son.

However, Rory Kinnear takes second honours, providing an utterly mesmerising foil for Whishaw's Richard and the electricity crackles between them in the fantastic deposition scenes hit the summits of dramatic power. You won't see better. There isn't better.

Beautifully shot and engineered, there isn't a scene that doesn't look stunning, a word that cannot be clearly understood or a plot line that cannot be easily followed. The sheer mastery of the play's intensely psychological portrait of kingship and power is made easily accessible to newcomers to Shakespearean drama and language.

Utterly brilliant. Well done everyone involved.