Richard is the legitimate king he succeeded his. Our year-long exploration of ‘our scepter’d isle’ will take us on a journey through history via Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, and Richard III. Shakespeares Richard II presents a momentous struggle between Richard II and his cousin Henry Bolingbroke. Brought to you in a serialized broadcast in four parts nightly from Monday, July 13 through Thursday, July 16 at 8:00 p.m.

Richard II marks the beginning of a cycle of history plays that will provide a unique opportunity to rediscover how Shakespeare perceived ‘this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England’. As his supporters abandon him and his power trickles away, Richard reflects with startling eloquence on the disintegration of his status and identity.Īdjoa Andoh and Lynette Linton direct the first ever company of women of colour in a Shakespeare play on a major UK stage, in a post-Empire reflection on what it means to be British in the light of the Windrush anniversary and as we leave the European Union.Īs we play our part in defining a nation’s history and we become the shoulders on which future generations will stand, Shakespeare asks us to consider the destiny that we might be shaping for our ‘scepter’d isle’. The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, now in a dazzling new series design The Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans.

Please note that this production has now closed.īeset by problems at home and abroad, a capricious king is forced to relinquish his ‘hollow crown’.

Richard ii by william shakespeare