Richard
II
By
William Shakespeare
Directed by Paul Mullins
Program
Notes
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| (Foreground: Chris Landis as Duke
of Aumerle and David Conrad as King RIchard II , (background)
Michael Earle as Sir Henry Green and Michael Ellison as
Sir William Bagot. Photo © Gerry Goodstein. |
"The glories
of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate;
Death lays his icy hand on Kings:
Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down
And in the dust be equal made
With poor crooked scythe and spade."
--James Shirley
"In what way are those whom we call lords greater masters
than ourselves? How have they deserved it? Why do they hold
us in bondage? Let us go to the King -- he is young -- and
show him how we are oppressed, and tell him that we want things
to be changed, else we will change them ourselves. If we go
in good earnest and all together, many of those who are called
serfs and are held in subjection will follow us to get our
freedom. And when the King sees and hears us, he will remedy
the evil, either willingly or otherwise."
--John Ball, quoted by Froissart
"For the king
has in him two bodies: a body natural and a body politic.
His body natural is a body mortal, subject to all infirmities
that come by nature or incident, to the imbecility of infancy
or old age; but his body politic is a body that cannot be
seen or handled, consisting of policy and government, and
constituted for the direction of the people and the public
weal, and this body is utterly void of infancy, and old age,
and other natural objects and imbecilities, which the body
natural is subject to, and for this cause, what the king does
in his body politic cannot be invalidated or frustrated by
any disability in his natural body"
--Edmund Plowden, 1571
"Physicians are like kings --
they brook no contradiction."
--John Webster
"Kings will be tyrants from policy
when subjects are rebels from principle."
--Edmund Burke
"If a king be resolute to be a tyrant,
all you can do will not hinder him."
--Sir Francis Bacon
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