King
John
by
William Shakespeare
Directed by Paul Mullins
Director's
Message
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| Laila Robins as Constance and Edward
James Hyland as Philip, King of France in KING JOHN. Photo
© Gerry Goodstein. |
"No public interest is anything other or nobler than a
massed accumulation of private interests."
-Mark Twain
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want
to test a man's character, give him power."
-Abraham Lincoln
"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth
and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage
can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The
statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the
signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but
the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events."
-Winston Churchill
"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who
maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis."
-Dante Aligheri
King John's father, King Henry II, was the founder of the
Angevin Dynasty which ruled England from 1154 to 1485. The
Angevins, who first ruled in Anjou, came to be better known
by their nickname "Plantagenet", named after the
sprig of broom they wore in their caps.
Through marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, diplomacy and conquest,
King Henry II acquired a huge empire. It stretched from the
border with Scotland to the Pyren'es. The empire was under
constant attack by King Philip II of France.
Henry II ruled England for 35 years. Altogether, he had five
sons. His firstborn son, William, died at the age of three,
but the other four sons - Henry, Richard, Geoffrey and John
? survived infancy. Henry and Geoffrey died during the lifetime
of their father. Richard, the older of the two remaining sons,
succeeded to the throne as Richard I (C'ur-de-lion).
When Richard I died in battle, his youngest brother, John
- the last living son of Henry II - succeeded him. However,
Geoffrey, John's older brother, and his widow, Constance,
had a son, Arthur. By the strict tenets of legitimacy, Arthur,
heir of the fourth son, had precedence over John, the fifth
son, to the crown of England. Richard I, however, had written
a will, on his deathbed, bequeathing the title of king to
John.
"Beware the leader who bangs the drum of war in order
to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor. For patriotism
is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood,
just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have
reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the
mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing rights
of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear
and patriotism, will offer up all of their rights to the leader
and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done.
And I am Julius Caesar."
- Julius Caesar
"He who lives by fighting with an enemy has an interest
in the preservation of the enemy's life."
-Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled
with the entrails of the last priest."
-Denis Diderot
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