Week 2 Session – Shakespeare’s “Richard II” – the king deposed (Act 4, Sc 1) – The Rehearsal Room [Video, Audio, and Transcript versions]

Week 1 – Richard II – The King Deposed – The Rehearsal Room

Nathan: Hey, everybody. Nathan here. Welcome back for week number two of Richard II as we dive into Act 4, scene one, where Richard is deposed. it’s actually really interesting when you get into the words of abdicate versus depose and what the connotations are, and maybe the group will want to talk about that. but that this, you know, I think this very clearly is a deposition. It’s a deposing of the king versus Richard. even though he gives up the crown, he’s not really. It’s not like, oh, earlier in the, 20th century, it was David who abdicated the crown, so that his younger brother Albert became king. You know, he was like, yeah, I don’t, I don’t want this. I’m voluntarily exiting. so it’s very interesting to kind of look at the, you know, the language around even that, is really fun. And, I wanted to bring up a point totally, occurred to me later. You, guys were talking about different versions of Richard you had seen. And, I remember I was lucky enough to see Mark Rylance do this at the old globe, 20 years ago or thereabouts. and, you know, the reason I bring that up is you guys talked a little bit about the humor in the play, the humor Richard finds. And I think that’s one of Mark’s gifts is always being able to find the humor, in the text. And, I had another actor who, said, well, his arc, like, he’s. He’s a clown. Like, that’s his archetype. and I mean that in, like, in the true artist, like, clown, ah sense. And when you think about if you’ve been lucky enough to see him on stage or whatever, I think. I think that does really fit. Like, he just, he’s just kind of an odd duck. Anybody looks at things in such an unusual way that he finds the humor, whether he’s playing Richard II or Richard III or Olivia or whoever it is. he has this great ability to find the humor in it. So, that was a production that I still remember so vividly. And, it’s first time. It kind of really made the language, come alive for me. And it’s just like, this is what you can do with Shakespeare, you know, this is, this is the power of, of this medium. so, yeah, just wanted to share that. I don’t know if you, you guys have seen Mark do other stuff or other things maybe through, you know, video or text or whatever.

Will: Yeah, I’ve Seen the recording that Richard ii.

Miranda: Yeah.

Will: Right before the production I did. And it was that like he, he made Let us sit upon the ground and tell said stories of the death of King.

Nathan: Yes.

Will: Which I love because of course it is. He’s a drama. Like it’s. No, it’s brilliant. Yeah.

Nathan: He’s like, oh, yeah, let’s do this here. You know, let’ about. Let’s talk about all the kings that have died and.

Miranda: Yeah, yeah.

Nick: I have been studying how I may compare species. Like eating cheese the whole time he’s doing. It’s fantastic.

Miranda: Yeah.

Nathan: I’ll tell you. Oh, go ahead, Miranda, please.

Miranda: I was just gonna say we, we saw him. We saw him as iago back in 2018 in London at Shakespeare’s Globe. Andre, Holland was a fellow. And the, the other thing I really love about Rylance is that he, you know, he just downplays everything. So, you know, and, and the humor was there for sure. But also, you know, that line, I hate the war when, when most actors just kind of, you know, as Patrick Page once said, they’re just kind of. The more, you know, they’re just sort of chewing on this. Doing the scenery doesn’t begin to describe it. And with him it was, it was so, so quietly delivered and so, so much more devastating, you know, for. You believed in his hatred, you know, in a way that I, some is sometimes more problematic.

Nathan: Yeah, yeah. and before the comments come, flying in, I think, I think I said I saw him at the Old Globe and you’re right, it was at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. The Old Globe, wonderful theater. But Mark did not do his fortune there. and you know, the day, the afternoon I saw it. Nick, you brought up the cheese scene. A pigeon flew down and landed on the stage. When he’s in prison and he’s talking about, I’m, I’m the only one here and like, you know, my thoughts are peopling this world and, and, and everyone was like, oh, wow, the pigeon. And so he takes a little bit of cheese and throws it to the pigeon and the pigeon just immediately takes off and he’s just like, can’t, even get a. Can’t even get a pigeon. Just stick around with some food.

Miranda: Amazing.

Nathan: I love that. You know, you wonder, you wonder, did they train that pigeon to come down every day? You know, it was just a nice little fun moment. Anyway, we, can reminisce about great productions we’ve seen, but I will let you guys get into it. It was really fascinating Work, all the discussions. I was just kind of reviewing it earlier today and the last few days, and just wonderful session. For those who haven’t seen it, Go back, check it out. Come on back to this. and so, yeah, I’ll check in at the end. You guys have a great, time, and, I’ll see you at the other end.

Miranda: Thanks.

Will: Hi, everyone. Good to see you again. I’m going to go ahead and preempt something real quick. I’ve got Junebug, the hairless wonder cat, right here on the lap. And the only reason. The only reason I’m preempting that is, she had oral surgery today, and she’s, stoned off

00:05:00

Will: her ass. and so she’s sedate right now, but soon she may not be. So if you see some, like, Gollum jumping across the screen, you’re not going crazy. The cat is, all right, friends, let’s dive in. so, today is, the day of Jamal’s Richard II and Nick’s Bolingbroke. And then next week we will switch. So, just to sort of, I guess, lay out some ground rules for how to approach this, I think, I want to encourage us to, embrace a blank slate. so today, is about Jamal, this is about your read on Richard. Nick, this is about your read on Bolingbroke. and then next week, blank slate. obviously, it’s an organic process. If there’s an idea that’s useful to you, absolutely take it. But I don’t want anyone to feel like there’s a right answer or a wrong answer. The whole point of this exercise is to see how these parts land on different actors in different ways. so before we dive in, I’d like to start off with, just, a one for nothing. Just a read through the scene. Give the two. Because I think last time we switched halfway through. And so this time I want to do a read of the scene with the two of you playing these parts all the way through. Before we dive into that, I just wanted to open up the floor and see if either of you gents or Miranda had any thoughts that have been percolating over the last couple of days. Anything that you wanted to share before we do some Shakespeare?

Nick: No worries. If not for me, most of it lives in the text, so I can’t wait to dive in and look at it in there.

Will: Then let’s just dive in. So again, we’re starting from Alack. Why am I sent Four to a king. And then a reminder, this was not in the original breakdown, but I would like to include Bolingbroke’s final line after Richard’s exit. because I do want to see again. Bolingbroke doesn’t have a ton to say in the scene, but I. But. But that doesn’t mean that Bolingbroke. I believe Bolingbroke to be an equal participant in the scene. And so I think I just want to. I just want to see how all of this was landing on him. yeah. Someone get Nick a table to flip over. the more chess pieces on it, the better. all right, well, we’ll pick up if everyone can. If. Is everyone on the script? Everyone has eyes on the text. All right, Jamal, when you are ready, my friend, take us away.

Jamal: Okay. Alack, why am I sent for to a king? Before I have shook off the regal thoughts wherewith I reigned, I hardly yet have learned to insinuate. Flatter, bow and bend my knee, give sorrow, leave a while to tutor me to this submission. Yet I well remember the favors of these men. Were they not mine? Did they not sometime cry all hell to me? So Judas did to Christ, but he and 12 found truth in all but one I and 12,000 none. God save the king. Will no man say amen? Am I both priest and clerk? Well, then, amen. God save the king, although I be not he, and yet amen. If heaven do think him me to do what service am I sent for hither to do that office of thine.

Will: Own good will, which tired majesty did make thee offer the resignation of thy state and crown to Henry Bolingbroke.

Jamal: Give me the crown. Here, cousin. Seize the crown. Here, cousin. On this side, my hand. On that side thine. Now is this golden crown, like a deep well that holds two buckets filling one another, the emptier, ever dancing in the air, the other down, unseen and full of water that bucket down and full of tears am I, drinking my griefs whilst you mount up on high.

Nick: I thought you had been willing to resign.

Jamal: My crown am I. But still my griefs are mine. You may my glories and my state depose, but not my griefs. Still am I king of those.

Will: Part.

Nick: Of your cares you give me with.

Jamal: Your crown your cares set up. Do not pluck my cares down. My care is loss of care by old care done. Your care is gain of care by new care won. the

00:10:00

Jamal: cares I give I have though given away. They tend the crown, yet still with me they stay.

Nick: Are you contented to resign the crown?

Jamal: I know no, I, for I must nothing be. Therefore, no, no, for I resign to thee. Now mark me how I will undo myself. I give this my heavy weight from off my head and this unwieldy scepter from my hand. The pride I kingly sway from out my heart with my own tears I wash away my balm with mine own hands, I give away my crown with my own tongue, Deny my sacred state with my own breath release all duteous oaths, all pomp and majesty I do forswear my manners. Rents, revenues I forego. God pardon all oaths that are broke to me, God keep all vows unbroke are made to thee. Make me that nothing hath with nothing grieved, and though with all please that hast all achieved. Long mayst thou, live in Richard’s seat. To sit and soon lie, Richard, in an earthly pit. God save King Henry. Unkinged, Richard says, and send me many years of sunshine days. What more remains?

Will: No more, but that you read these accusations and these grievous crimes committed by your person and your followers against the state and profit of this land, that by confessing them, the souls of men may deem that you are worthily deposed.

Jamal: Must I do so? And must I ravel out my weaved up follies? Gentle Northumberland, if thy offenses were upon record, would it not shame thee in so fair a troop to read a lecture of them? If thou wouldst thus, should thou find one heinous article containing the deposing of a king, and cracking the strong warrant of an oath, marked with a blot, damned in the book of heaven. Nay, all of you that stand and look upon me whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself. Though some of you with pallet wash your hands, showing an outward pity, yet you pilots have delivered me to my sour cross. And water cannot wash away your sin.

Will: My lord, dispatch, read o’er these articles.

Jamal: Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot see. And yet sought water blinds them not so much, but they can see. A sort of traitors here. Nay, I turn my eyes upon myself. I find myself a traitor with the rest. For I have given here my soul’s consent to undeck the pompous body of a king made glory base and sovereignty a slave, proud majesty a subject state. A, peasant, my lord. No, lord of thine thou hawked, insulting man nor no man’s lord. I have no name. No title? No, not that name was given me at the font. But tis usurped Alack, the heavy day that I have worn so many winters out. And know not now what name to call myself. Oh, that I were a mockery, King of snow, standing before the sun of Bolingbroke. To melt myself away in water drops. Good king, great king, and yet not greatly good. And if my word be sterling, yet in England let it command a mirror hither straight. That it may show me what a face I have, since it is bankrupt of its majesty.

Nick: Go, some of you, and fetch a looking glass.

Will: Read o’er this paper while the glass doth come.

Jamal: Fiend, thou torments me ere I come to hell.

Nick: Urge it no more, my Lord Northumberland.

Will: Commons will not then be satisfied.

Jamal: They shall be satisfied. I’ll read enough when I do see the very book indeed where all my sins are writ, and that’s myself. Give me the glass, and therein will I read no deeper wrinkles yet. Hath, sorrow struck so many blows upon this face of mine. And made no deeper wounds? O flattering

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Jamal: glass, like to my followers in prosperity, thou dost beguile me. Was this face the face that every day under his household roof did keep 10,000 men? Was this the face that, like the sun, did make beholders wink? Is this the face which faced so many follies. That was at last out faced by Bolingbroke? A brittle glory shineth in this face. As brittle as the glory is the face, for there it is cracked in its hundred shivers. Mark, silent king, the mole of this sport. How soon my sorrow hath destroyed my face.

Nick: The shadow of your sorrow hath destroyed the shadow of your face.

Jamal: Say that again. The shadow of my sorrow. Let’s see. Tis very true. My grief lies all within. And these external manners of laments are merely shadows to the unseen grief that swells with silence in the tortured soul. There lies the substance. And I thank thee, King, for thy great bounty. That not only gives me cause to wail. But teaches me the way how to lament the cause. I’ll beg one boon and then be gone and trouble you no more. Shall I obtain it?

Nick: Name it. Fair cousin.

Jamal: Fair cousin, I am greater than a king. But when I was a king, my flatterers were then but, subjects. Being now a subject, I have a king here to my flatterer. Being so great, I have no need to beg. Yet ask. and shall I have?

Nick: You shall.

Jamal: Then give me leave to go whither. Whither you will so I were from your sight.

Nick: Go, some of you. Convey him to the tower.

Jamal: Oh, good. Convey Conveyors are you all that rise thus nimbly, by a true king’s fall.

Nick: On Wednesday next, we solemnly set down our coronation. Lords, prepare yourselves.

Will: Excellent friends.

Jamal: We talk so much.

Will: He talks and he talks and he talks and he talks and he talks well. And that leads to, a point that I want to make, but not quite yet. First, I want to sort of just questions, and I’m going to go sort of. I’m going to do this sort of ass backwards. I’m going to start with Bolingbroke, and then I’m going to go to Richard. But I just want to know, Nick, any observations what leapt out at you about being on the receipt, leaving end of that. On of the onslaught?

Nick: You know, it’s funny, I have a different point of view of it when I’m reading Bolingbroke than when I’m reading Richard. this time I kept thinking of the scene in The Godfather 2 when Fredo is confessing himself to Michael and saying, I mean, it’s not. Richard’s not that weak. He doesn’t carry the weakness that Fredo has in. but, I had this sense of power. I mean, I feel like, you know, Bolingbroke knows he has the chair and he wants to be magnanimous, and he wants to be viewed as magnanimous. I do have a question. that there’s a weird line that strikes me odd all the time, is when Richard asked for the Looking Glass, and Bolingbroke is so quick to send somebody to get it for him. And I’m wondering, is he trying to get this over with as fast as possible? Is it just a speed thing, let’s get this done. Or is, he really trying to capitulate? Is he trying to give Richard whatever he wants? sorry, go ahead. It just feels so fast.

Will: Yeah. I mean, my instinct is, yes, by this point, Richard has been talking a lot. And more importantly, Richard has been saying some pretty incendiary things m. To get to in a minute.

Nick: So he doesn’t want him to have the stage for very much longer.

Will: No, you need to get him out of there. Like, it was important, this was worthwhile if Richard publicly and sort of, cooperatively gave you the crown. But Richard says pretty explicitly that he is going to be dead soon. which, again, he’s just saying the truth. I mean, he is prophesying, but he’s also saying the truth politically. Like there’s. And there’s a question. Right. That I think, I’ll pose to you and you don’t have to tell me the answer, but whether or not Bolingbroke

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Will: is plotting the death of Richard, whether or not that is something that, like, I think the question is, how naive is Bolingbroke? Right. Because Richard actually comes into this with a certain amount of wisdom. He understands that there really. Like, once that crown leaves his head, he cannot stay alive. There is,

Nick: And I question the power between. There’s almost a moment of power struggle between Northumberland and Bolingbroke. Like, and I wonder. And I wonder where that. Where that power lies between the two of them and how much, Bolingbroke is being pushed into a lot of this by Northumberland and people behind the crown.

Will: It’s one of the questions of the play. And, Nick, I’m going to sort of, just say, you’re breaking up just a skosh. cool. So I would just. If you’ve got any extra apps in the wonderful world of Zoom, if you’ve got any extra apps in the background, I would just close them up. It’s not too bad, but it’s happening enough that I just wanted to flag it. thank you. unless it’s me. Unless I’m breaking up.

Nick: sometimes I have to put my phone on airplane mode and then it gets better.

Jamal: Same. Same.

Will: Yeah. It’s the wonderful world of bandwidth. these are all sort of large questions and the answer is yes and no. There is a production where absolutely Northumberland is the driving force behind it. And there’s also a version of this where Bolingbroke is the driving force. And there’s also a version where Richard is the driving force, where Bolingbroke comes back. And, I mean, Richard is the first producer person. It’s not in the scene, but Richard is the first person to raise the specter of you taking the crown. it happens in the scene at Berkeley Castle. Ah. So. And again, like, Richard. Richard is seeing which way the wind is blowing and just sort of saying explicitly what everyone else is holding is implicit. but anyways, my instinct, regardless of sort of those, the only reason I bring that up is these are all. I would say, like, just think which is the most compelling for you and play it, because they are all valid interpretations of the play. for me, the looking class is absolutely. About shutting him up. you can’t. He’s trapped between a rock. And the reason. This is sort of transitioning into the first part of the point that I wanted to make. And we’ll sort of make the Bolingbroke end of this. And then we’ll. Well, Jamal, we’ll hop over and talk about Richard and his walls of text. but, I absolutely think that Bolingbroke starts this scene with a power. and I think the question is, how much of that power does he feel like he has when Richard is taken out? And I think with this looking glass, right, he does have the power, but he’s also in the spotlight in a way that he has never ever been before. Right. He was just. All he ever was going to be was Duke of Lanc, which is an important role, but it doesn’t come with nearly the scrutiny that being king does. And now he. Now he’s not just king, he is usurper. All eyes are on him. Those eyes might be on his side for now, but if he orders Richard to be taken screaming from the room, which is sort of how the scene ends, right? It’s one of the great lines. When I did it, they literally like, this is never. I don’t. This is not a. But they literally like there were guys like grabbing me and I was like fully like just like being wheeled out of the room. And he’s saying conveyor, One of the great mic drop lines that Shakespeare wrote. Conveyors are you all that rise thus nimbly by a true king’s fall. I think that Richard exiting in that way is absolutely what Bolingbroke wants to avoid because it totally invalidates his position. I mean it really, like, that is a worst. I think that is a worst case scenario from him. So I think the journey, Nick, as we go through, and you’ve got the harder job in some ways because there’s not a ton of text. It’s all in just how you’re processing it. But I think the journey that we want to find with Bolingbroke is how does he go from being. From thinking that he is the top dog to being, sort of emasculate, like publicly emasculated by this guy and having this again. When I did the play, the running joke among the cast was that Bolingbroke had all the weak ass rhyming couplets. Because we ended our two acts with, We ended our first act after. After the execution of Bushy Baggin Green and his lines, there are. His line. There is a while to work and after Holiday, which is like, this is. It’s so stupid. It’s so weak. And then at the end, right, like he’s. The last image of the play is he’s holding he’s holding Richard’s body and he says, grace, my morning’s here and weeping after this untimely beer, right? But Bolingbroke, time and time and time and again, he’s finding himself with a PR nightmare and publicly, publicly exposed and publicly having to pick up the pieces. And it’s like, you know, on Wednesday next, we solemnly set down our coronation. Lords, prepare yourselves. It really is. It’s one of those moments where, like, the guy’s dragged screaming from the room. He’s just done a fucking aria, right? Like, it’s. It’s. It’s. You know, Jamal, we’re going

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Will: to get into the weeds in a second. But it’s. It’s some of the most beautiful and also, like, rhetorically devastating stuff that Shakespeare ever wrote. and it’s like.

Nick: And all the image of the crown that he’s putting up is terrifying to Bolingbroke as well. That the whole. The mockery of here, cousin, seize the crown. You know, the word words that he’s using there are like, he, you know, usurped. He’s saying all these things like, you’re stealing this from me. You know, so it’s, All the things he doesn’t want him to say.

Will: Yeah, you are. Yeah. You are allowed absolutely no. And you’re allowed absolutely no dignity in the situation either.

Jamal: So.

Will: But I think. But I think that’s the journey, right? Like, I think, how much of this. And it’s a question. I don’t know. Let’s play around with different options. How much of this are you expecting when Richard enters the room? How much of this is a surprise? And I think that’s my overall one. How much of this is a surprise?

Nick: Excellent.

Will: Yeah. All right, Jamal, talk to me about this wall of text. How was that?

Jamal: The text is beautiful. What I’m realizing inside of me, like, you know, doing it and looking at the text and wanting to be reminded of the energy of the room. Seeing more words that I’m able to see, Nick, than I’m able to imagine just in this first read through of like, oh, this is a room of people, and there’s a lot going on. And then also inhibiting, like, moving past the sense of the. Because I felt that thing as well, with the words. It’s like, oh, take the time. Because he’s considering these ideas while making statements, while asking questions. And you kind of have to, like, lift the questions and let things land and go, and then move on and inhibit that rush. And I felt myself get entangled in sense. When I was moving forward before, I felt that Richard even made sense of what he’s questioning or even saying. And so there’s like this delicate balance with the language, I find, and the space in between while not while still using the language to drive things forward. Making sense.

Will: Absolutely. No, total, absolutely making sense. And the one thing that I want to like, I want to absolutely say like it was handled very well. I could sort of, I could see you catching yourself, but I could also see you adjusting in the moment. And the only thing, again, the word that I’m going to come back to in terms of notes and we’re about to go into some start and stop and working stuff and get into the weeds a little bit more. But the thing that I want to encourage you, I felt like Richard was very in control the whole time, which in times was very effective. But I want to encourage you to allow yourself to, as with Nick, I want to encourage you to allow yourself to be surprised too. Because I think that it is, I think he is in control, but I think he’s having to will himself to be in control. because you’re right, it is a room m full of people and it’s a room full of people who, who. It’s such a. I don’t know, I mean, it’s such an interesting thing being in a leadership position, right, that like there’s that and all of the kings touch on it at some point, right? And Richard, I don’t know that anyone could say Richard’s a great leader, but he is at the beginning of this play, he is at the head of the pack. And there is something when you’re in any sort of leadership position, as you may very well know that like you find yourself staring down all the people who are waiting for you to tell them what to do, right? Or even if they’re like collaborators, right, Even if it’s not like as much of a top down hierarchy, but they’re waiting for you to facilitate the experience. And it’s, it’s almost like a, you can, you can be as, you can be as self, possessed. You can be the most self possessed person in the world and there can still be that nagging voice in the back of your head going, you’re shit. You know, ah, you’re shit at this. Everyone knows you’re shit at this. They all hate you. And it’s, I think, I don’t know, I was stunned. It was something that just left out of me listening to you do at this time. And I want to encourage you to.

Jamal: And there’s like this. There’s this battle that even goes through in the speech. It’s like he’s becoming a peasant. You know what I mean? He talks about being higher than a king. He talks about these things that are within. And it’s like, oh, I literally have to take myself off the pedestal that I’ve been put upon, that I also might know and believe to be true within my. And become the very less of myself while in public view. And so, like, to become less than, you know, that you are while still being who you are.

Will: And how does that land on you, I think is the question, too, right? Because the.

Jamal: I don’t even know. I feel like for Richard, like, it’s like something that I want to create the space to discover that feeling, because I think it’s a depth of feeling that I can’t quite touch yet. You know, it’s like, it’s something that I feel happens from allowing that to really land well.

Will: And the only. The only other given circumstances that I want to give you. And this was just sort of the end of the point that I was making, is that you have confirmation now, right? Like, imagine every time Richard got up and talked to all of these people when he was king and no one was challenging him, that voice is

00:30:00

Will: there. That voice that says, you are not enough is there. And now he’s facing down all of those same faces, right? He is looking at all of those people who for years never challenged him. And now he is being expected. He has confirmation, right? He know, like, he. In some way. Like, in some ways he’s on shaky ground, but in some ways he’s on firmer ground, right? And so that’s the only other thing that I want to sort of, like, give you to navigate, right? That it is. It is not. You’re right. It’s not just about Bolingbroke. It is about that room full of people, right? And it’s about. And like you said, right, it is about. It’s about becoming. It’s about becoming lesser, but it is also about becoming greater, right? Because now you are. Now you are free to say all of the things that you couldn’t say before, right? And so, again, I just want to. I want to. And we’re about to go through and play with it. But I think, it’s that word surprise, right? I think you’re Richard right now. Your Richard did an excellent job of speaking his truth, which I think is absolutely at the core of this scene, right? It’s the reason that Richard is able to do as well as he does in the scene. He is the only character on stage at this moment who is telling the truth about the situation that they are in. Right. He is now he sort of entered into the position of fool. Right. He’s now he is giving them all he has license to speak the truth. But I think, the thing to play with is, I guess, what are the discovery. And you’re a very sort of in touch actor. So this is just something to like, plan in the head. It’s not specific, but where does he surprise himself and, where does he. Where, you know, when does something. When does an idea. When does the depth of something, you know, surprise him or what’s that like? The only word I can think of is unmanned him. But, you know, I like that.

Jamal: I like all those questions. That’s something to rock with in these things. Yeah.

Will: excellent. just a couple scansion things that I want to give you and then I want to turn it over to Miranda. it’s just for the most part. It’s really great, man. I think I’m just jumping down to the, deposition speech. It’s around line 220. I think it’s line 221. It scans my manners, rents, revenues. I forgot revenues.

Jamal: Yes, I got that note.

Will: It’s counterintuitive, but I think the regularity of the verse is important here because it speaks to whether it is forced or no. It speaks to a certain degree of both ritual and also collection like self possession and self control. so I think just preserving the verse in that is going to be helpful to us. and then there was one more. There was one more that I don’t remember, but we’ll get to it. We’ll find it again. Miranda, anything that you want to, share?

Miranda: yes, just a couple of, observations. That was great, guys. I really enjoyed that. I was thinking this week too a lot about what we were discussing last week about the cousinly relationship. And I felt as though that really came through. the familial relationship as well as the. The broader monarchical, one, I guess. and then I just had a couple of notes. Might the other scansion line have been, 240 upon, What is it? Upon something. Upon record.

Will: Yes, that was it.

Miranda: Yeah. So that’s line 240. The accent is on the second syllable. And again, just sort of the formality of what Richard is doing. and then, I Had a couple things just to think about. And this first one, I have a nagging feeling we may already have discussed. But, Line 191, that here, cousin. and again, stop me friends, if we’ve said this, but, Often in Shakespeare, if there’s a half line that just stands alone rather than being completed in dialogue by another character, that doesn’t mean we can’t sort of take the extra beats that would fill out a complete line of iambic pentagon, hammeter. And you were doing that effectively, I thought. Which was really cool. But you know, that just. Just because there aren’t words to fill out the line doesn’t mean we can’t take those beats. And, as I say, you did that. And that was. That was. That was great. and then otherwise I just, I had. I was just struck by something that, Jim, all you and Nick and Will, you can all think about and dispense with or contemplate or whatever you decide to do. But, There’s almost a dynamic in this scene between Richard and between,

00:35:00

Miranda: Bolingbroke of, The sort of the one character that just loves language and the other who just does not just very sort of straightforward. That reminds me of the similar dynamic in Romeo and Juliet, which dates from just about the same time between Mercutio and Tybalt. and of course, Mercutio loves language, just dances rings around Tybalt. one of whose very first lines is, you know, peace. I hate the word. He says I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee. he actually says to Benvolio in that opening scene. But, yes, he’s saying, I hate the word peace. But really it’s broader than that. He just hates language. and so there’s a similar. I was contemplating a similar dynamic here in the scene between, Richard and between Bolingbroke. so take, what you like and leave the rest, as they say in the 12 step programs. but, you know, I did want to mention that I also will, send people a title, Peter Sacho’s book. Shakespeare’s English Kings. Peter Sacho. He was a Dartmouth professor. Some of you may have encountered it, but it’s a great. It really untangles who all these people were in the history plays. And he’s a very entertaining writer. so I’ll send. Send that along too. That’s it. I thought it was great. I really enjoyed it.

Will: Thank you, Miranda. Yeah, I never thought about that tibbled line in that way. It’s kind of blowing my mind a little bit.

Miranda: That’s what we do as dramaturds will professional mind blowers.

Will: it’s true. excellent. So, let’s take from the top and we’ll start and stop. And Jamal, I’m going to ask something a little bit unorthodox for Zoom reading. Fuck it. I think so. That sort of. That idea of, like, how deliberate is his sense of self possession and how deliberate is his sense of collection. It’s right from the beginning, right? Because he enters and he sees the room full of people. So I’m going to ask you to actually make an entrance. So if you wouldn’t mind killing your camera. And when we come back on and take as much time as you need, make Nick and I wait as long as you want. and then come on and take us in and find, like, make the decision to speak. Right. Because again, like Miranda was saying, right, he is somebody who loves language. But I think in this scene, specifically in previous scenes, he has used language carelessly and that is not the case here. I think we’re seeing his relationship to language change, right. It’s becoming more deliberate and it’s becoming more considered in a way. so, yeah, let’s just see what that does with this first chunk. Go ahead and take as long as you want to enter. Take as long as you want to start speaking. and let’s just see what that does. So, whenever you’re ready.

Jamal: Alack. Why am I sent for to a king? Before I have shook off the regal thoughts Wherewith I have reigned, I hardly yet have learned to insinuate flatter, bow and bend my knee, Give sorrow leave a while to tutor me to this submission. Yet I well remember the favors of these men. Were they not mine? Did they not sometime cry all hell to me? So Judas did to Christ. But he in 12 found truth in all but one I in 12,000 none.

Will: Go.

Jamal: say the king, will no man say amen? Am I both priest and clerk? Well, then, amen. God save the king. Although I be not he and yet. Amen. If heaven do think him me.

Nick: To.

Jamal: Do what service am I sent to hither?

Will: to do that office of thine own good will, which tired majesty did make thee offer the resignation of thy state and crown to

00:40:00

Will: Henry Bolingbroke.

Jamal: Give me the crown here, cousin. Seize the crown here, cousin on this side. My hand on that side. Fine, good.

Will: Hold. I’m going to hold this right there. That was electric, Jamal. That was really. That Was incredible. so, yeah, watching. Yeah, watching you sort of process and react moment to moment. Excellent. a couple super, super friggin nitpicky little things. Give them to me.

Jamal: I like nitpicky.

Will: I think we can find. I think another m. Oh, she’s risen. The sanctity of our rehearsal has been. Oh, sorry, I’m pat out. Otherwise we will get nothing done.

Jamal: You’re good. I understand. I got my dog on the couch right now, and she’s sleeping.

Miranda: I actually love that aspect of zoom, you know, that we can see each other’s pets or kids or, you know, that. That hilarious video where the guy was, you know, trying to comment for whatever it was. BBC and his kids are running in and his wife’s running after them.

Jamal: The best.

Will: My favorite is the random. I think it was like the.

Jamal: Oh, puppy.

Will: My personal favorite was there was a. There was like a. Some sort of trial in Georgia. This was in 20.

Miranda: Like, the depths of the cat filter that is. Couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. That was hilarious.

Will: I’m here, you, Honor. I’m here. I’m not a cat. I’m here.

Jamal: Anyways.

Will: All right. Sorry about that. so I feel like that. So Judas did to Christ, but he and 12 found truth in all but one. I feel like even those two thoughts can be separated like that. But he in 12 found truth in all but one. Can even be a new thought, right? Because there’s a. You know, he’s making the decision. He’s making the decision to compare himself to Jesus. And then he’s like, actually, Jesus had it better than I. yeah. I think that’s literally the only thing that. The only note.

Jamal: I agree with that. I felt that, too, as I was saying. Then I was like, oh, I want to revisit that, because I don’t know if it’s sitting well with how I was putting it together. It felt kind of wonky.

Will: Well, I debated about whether to give you the note because I liked sort of the flow that you found. It’s just something to play with. But, no, it’s really good because.

Jamal: Again, it brings in for me who he’s speaking to when. So Judas is great, but he and 12 found truth. But all in one. I got 12,000. None of y’all motherfuckers showing up. And so it does help feed me the Richard that I’m building with the public appeal. Ah. Of it. So thank you for that note.

Will: Good, Great, great, great.

Will: the other thing I think, we can use the word seize a little bit more here, cousin. Seize the crown. And it goes back to. I, think Nathan touched on it right at the top, and Miranda touched on it, right? But it’s not. It’s not just. He’s making it clear that it is a deposition as opposed to an abdication. Right? You are seizing the crown. So fucking do it, you coward. Which again, it’s such a. It’s such a. It’s such a. It’s such a sibling thing to do, right? I’m over here. Come get it.

Jamal: You want it? Get it, take it, own it.

Will: Yeah, and it’s badass. And I think. And you were doing this. And I’m gonna encourage you just to go further, make the decision, right? It’s give me the crown. And I think we’re gonna. Even though it’s over zoom, I’m gonna encourage some light staging. The two of you are already doing it. And the only reason I stopped you is because I want to make sure that we’re all on the same page, because it will require a little bit of zoom choreography. But it’s like, think about, give me the crown. Okay, so you’ve got the crown, right? And then there is that moment of decision of, am I going to give it peacefully? Because you absolutely could, at that point, you absolutely could just give it to him and leave. But it’s another one of those, like, fork in the road moments, right? It’s that. You’ve seen the bear. It’s that great episode where it’s like, it’s Jon Bernthal and he’s throwing the forks at his stepdad. You gotta watch it still. Oh, it’s great. Oh, okay, nevermind. Anyways.

Jamal: I know it’s great. I know it’s great. I’m just.

Will: Don’t watch Michael. The strength to not throw that final fork, right? It’s,

Nick: You know, there was a production of this that. That the Globe did, and I’m not sure. It was sort of maybe in the. In the late 70s where the play opened with a crown in the middle of the stage and with Bolingbroke and Richard on both sides. And they both ran at the crown to grab it and then the curtain, then the play started. It was just like a Directorial edition. That was pretty neat. Sorry, I just heard about that a while ago.

Will: It’s electric. well, and it’s. It sort of gets to the heart of it, right? Because it’s not like. I’ve heard people describe this as like a political play. And There’s a lot of, like, you know, there was a. There was a minimalist production that was just done with Simon Russell Beal. I say just done. 2019. God. that was a while ago now, wasn’t, where the whole thing was just sort of like

00:45:00

Will: political chess. And I think that, like. Yeah, that’s part of it, but it is. It’s like. I love that staging thing because it isn’t just that. It’s also. It’s these people racing for it. They’re not exactly sure why. They just are. Right. but anyways, I think there’s that. Jamal, give yourself the moment of decision and then make the decision to set everything on fire, because that absolutely is what you’re doing, right? You are. You are choosing pain. and then he just doubles down. so then give him. You’ll need to keep your eye on Nick. So I think we’ll just keep this simple. We’ll just keep it under the screen. But that sees the crown. Nick, take your time. There’s absolutely no rush. But grab the other side of the crown. And then Jamal, the idea is that he would start. He thinks he’s just going to get it, but you don’t let go of it. Right. And that’s the central. That is the iconic image of the play, right? It’s like the two. The two men with hands on either side of the crown. And technically, he’s supposed to then tip it over, right, to invert it. Because that’s where you get the idea of the. Well, because the crown would have the spires on it. You invert it and now it looks like a well. Right. Don’t, worry about doing all that. But I do think that it’s important that there is that moment of connection, right. Of like, m. You don’t get to do this that easy. Right. cool. All right. let’s go back. Nick, I think I love everything you’re doing. I’m going to encourage you to.

Jamal: Hope.

Will: For the best at the very beginning, I think let. What he’s doing. I think. Let’s see what happens. If Bolingbroke is naive enough at this point to believe that there is. I don’t think he’s wise enough to know that it might not go this way. But also, Richard is the person who brought up the idea of giving the crown. Of giving up the crown. So you don’t. You don’t actually have any concrete reasons in the text to believe that he’s going to make your life exceptionally difficult yeah. Really?

Nick: Until he says, here, cousin sees the crown, maybe.

Will: Yeah. Yeah. Feel it out. I think it’s in the moment. And again, it’s one of those barometers, right? It’s like moment to moment, his expectations can shift. But I think at the beginning, there might be some anxiety. But it’s all about becoming king, right? I think at the beginning, you have no reason to believe that Richard is going to make your life challenging. So let’s see what that journey is.

Nick: Okay.

Will: All right, Jamal, I loved that entrance. let’s go ahead and just take it from the top again and play through and see what happens.

Jamal: Beautiful. Alack, why am I sent for to a king? Before I have shook off the regal thoughts wherewith I have reigned, I hardly yet, have learned to insinuate, flatter, bow and bend my knee. Give sorrow, leave a while to tutor me to such submission. Give sorrow. Leave a while to tutor me to this submission. Yet I well remember the favors of these men. Were they not mine? Did they not sometime cry all hell to me? So Judas did to Christ, but he and 12 found truth in all but one I in 12,000 none. God save the king. Will no man say amen? Am I both priest and clerk? Well, then, amen. God save the king, although I be not he, and yet. Amen. If heaven think him me to do, what service am I sent for hither.

Will: To do that office of thine own good will, which tired majesty did make thee offer the resignation of thy state and crown to Henry Bolingbroke.

Jamal: Give me the crown. Here, cousin. Seize the crown. Here, cousin. On this side, my hand, on that side, thine. Now in this golden crown, like a.

Will: Deep well, I’m just going to hold us. And again. It’s great. Jamal, keep your eye on Nick.

00:50:00

Will: Wait till he actually reaches out. And, I’m leaving it a little bit loosey goosey. He’s going to take as long as he needs to, right? But it’s in that tension. It’s in those opposing forces. But don’t move on with a text until you actually see him. Like, reach out. And what’s your move?

Jamal: M. Show me what your movement is going to be, because I thought I saw movement. This.

Will: Okay, great. Awesome.

Jamal: Got you. Thank you so much.

Will: No, it’s okay. He just crossed his arm. It’s. It’s zoom. it’s zoom. Don’t worry about it. we’re not going to double all the way back. But I had a thought to my. It’s beautiful work, guys. I Hope it goes without saying. It’s all great. I noticed that we were tripping up over Give sorrow. Leave a while to tutor me to this submission. and I think I want to take the pressure off you because I know, you know it’s in Jambant. Right. Normally there’s. There’s pressure to try and push the idea through. I’m going to take that pressure off of you because I think there is. I think giving yourself a beat, not an indulgent beat, but a beat after tutor me before you land on to this submission, will be helpful for clarity sake. Right. Because I think there is. It’s the first, you know, a. It helps us here. Tutor me. Right. That sorrow is. Sorrow is going to teach me how. And I think he has to, like, summon up the ability. Like, he has to summon the courage to say to the submission, like, it, It, It, It. The. It almost makes him want to vomit.

Jamal: I love that.

Nick: I have a question on that line. Is. Is it. Is he speaking of Richard sorrow, or is he talking to the audience about their sorrow?

Will: I think that is a question again, that is of most. It’s specific to the actor. To me, it’s always his own personal sorrow. I think that it is like, my personal sorrow is going to have to humble me.

Nathan: I see.

Will: Like, I thought. Basically, he’s saying, I thought I was gonna, like, dude, give me a minute. Like, I said I was gonna give you the crown, but now you’re asking me to come and do this publicly. Fuck you. I thought I was gonna have some time. so I don’t. I don’t know that it’s. I don’t know that it’s like, the audience’s sorrow, because I do think it’s interesting. Richard, though, he is king, he spends far more time talking about his own thoughts and feelings than he ever.

Nick: Yeah, that’s what. I didn’t know if it was sort of a manipulative tactic for him to be saying, I know you all feel terrible for me right now, but drop your sorrow for a minute. To tutor me both ways.

Will: It’s something to play with. It’s absolutely. And I don’t want. Especially because we’re going to be looking at your version next week. I don’t want to say no to anything yet. but,

Nick: Sorry, Jamal. I was just thinking about it when you said it.

Jamal: Nothing. Sorry about you. I love all the information, so I agree. I think he can go both ways depending on where Richard is.

Will: And so I appreciate the Miranda. Yeah. Yeah.

Miranda: I just I just want to. Want to, note the syntax is complex in a way that can allow for different interpretations because it’s give sorrow, leave a while. So let, you know, let sorrow be for a while. Or give sorrow, leave a while to tutor me. So let. Right, exactly. Give sorrow, a chance to tutor me for a while. In other words, words that, you know, the. The adverb there, you know, goes. Goes both ways, I think.

Nick: Yeah, the awhile is interesting. It’s like the sadness will come back, you know?

Miranda: Yes, exactly. Yeah, exactly. Or how long. How long is it going to take to tutor me to. To this, you know, to, to this submission? Maybe you never, you know, maybe I, you know. Anyway, it always. I love it when. When line. Shakespeare’s lines are. Have kind of an ambiguous syntax there that can, you know, in performance.

Will: Yeah, no, it’s beautifully open ended. So again, Jamal, keep it as open, like for you for today. And I don’t think you’re gonna have any. Just however it lands on you in the moment, but just grammatically you can give yourself a little bit of space there to land on to this. Thank you so much. I, don’t want us to go back because we’ve got a lot of other stuff that I want to hit and we’ll go back and run the whole thing. I just want to take it back from. Give, me the crown here, cousin. Seize the crown. And we’ll just. We’ll take it from there for now.

Jamal: Sounds good. Great. Give me the crown here, cousin. Seize the crown here, cousin. On, this side, my hand on that side thine. Now is this golden crown like a deep well that owes two buckets filling one another,

00:55:00

Jamal: the emptier, ever dancing in the air, the other down, unseen and full of water, the bucket down and full of tears am I drinking my griefs whilst you mount up on high.

Nick: I grabbed the crown at the wrong spot.

Will: That’s all right.

Jamal: I tried to do like, a little yank. I kind of like, you know.

Will: You clocked it.

Nick: I had one job. I had one job.

Will: You clocked it, though. I didn’t want to stop you. I didn’t want to, But you clocked it. And take that again. it’s interesting. Jamal, this isn’t a note. I’ve never seen Richard play this speech as a private moment before. I’ve often seen Richard and keep exploring it. It’s interesting to me. I often see Richard’s sort of grandstanding in this moment. So that Bolingbroke is the Person trying to, like, pull him down to the ground. So it’s interesting. It’s just, It’s an interesting trick. It was one of those.

Jamal: What I’m feeling in that moment, and I’m willing to play around with it, but what was coming up instinctually, and I’m not attached to it at all, was, like, this moment that is public, but, like, there’s still words being whispered between these two cousins. Those who are really close can hear and you can feel and read the tension. But I’m also. So I’m attracted to when we pull the audience into these moments rather than making it big for the room. And so I wanted to say if I’m saying this privately yet, if you’re close enough, you know exactly what’s going on, cousin.

Will: Yeah, I just wanted to flag it as interesting. Pursue the impulse. Let’s see where it goes. Let’s go back to the same spot, and play through.

Jamal: Great. Give me the crown here, cousin. Seize the crown here, cousin on this side, my hand on that side, thine now is this golden crown like a deep well that holds two buckets filling one another, the emptier ever dancing in the air, the other down unseen and full of water I bucket down and full of tears am I drinking my griefs whilst you mount up on high.

Nick: I thought you had been willing.

Jamal: To resign my crown and my. But still my griefs are mine. You may my glories and my state depose, but not my griefs. Still am I king of those.

Will: Good. This is electric. I don’t want to hold this for too long, but I just want to point out. Jamal, you’re just inverting. I am. It’s my crown. I am, but still my grief is mine. So I am willing to resign my crown, but not my Greek. You still got that? Like you’re still delivering the intention of the line. I just wanted to make sure that we had the words.

Jamal: I need that. Thank you for keeping me honest.

Will: Of course, of course. It’s my function here.

Will: All right, can we just go from I thought you had been willing to resign.

Nick: I thought you had been willing to.

Jamal: Resign my crown I am, but still my griefs are mine. Ye may my glories and my state depose, but not my griefs. Still am I king of those.

Will: Part.

Nick: Of your cares you give me with.

Jamal: Your crown your care set up. Do not pluck my cares down. My care is loss of care by old care. Done. Your care is gain of care by new Care won, the cares I give, I have though given away. They tend the crown, and still with me they stay.

Nick: Are you contented to resign the crown?

Jamal: Ay, no, no. Ay. For I must nothing be, therefore. No, no. For I resign to thee.

Will: Good. I’m gonna hold this. this is all great. I just want to try something, and I want to try it and then see how that feeds into this longer section. Nick, I think you’re already sort of playing this, and I just want to encourage you to go for broke on this. I thought you had been willing to resign. What if there was almost an element of, like, betrayal in it this last time? And I want to see if it’s like, what the hell, man? Like, if it’s like, for all cousinly.

Nick: Connection, it feels like there. There’s almost, Like we were brothers.

01:00:00

Nick: Like, yeah, you can’t do this to me. Yeah.

Will: and so, like, turn that amp up to 11. Let’s just see what happens if we take that choice too far. and then I think there’s a build, right? You’ve got these three sort of short interjections, right? It’s so fun. No, I’m not. No. I was going to talk about my little cousins, but I’m not going to do that. Anyways, part, of your care is you give me with your crown. Are you content? There’s a build, though. It’s like, God, fuck it. Right?

Jamal: Great.

Nick: Got it. Niba. Absolutely.

Will: And I think. Let’s see what. Just to make this, Let’s make this as complicated as we can, Jamal. Let’s see what happens if. Underneath all of the desire to protect himself, there is, even for a moment, there’s. That. What happens if Bolingbroke actually does break through to him on some level. That it. Like that you. You see this person you were raised with saying, why are you. Why are you making this hard for me? You know? And how does that color my care Is loss of care by old care done. Your care is gain of care by new care. 1. Because it’s. It’s interesting. You are. You are pleading your own case. You are saying, these cares are staying with me, but also buried in that is. You don’t know what’s coming to you, do you? You poor fucker. You have no idea what is about to hit you. And it’s again, we’re catching Richard at such an interesting and rich moment in his development, Right? Because you, know, the part’s often described as a young man’s Lear and I think that’s partially accurate. Right. And that, like, he loses the crown, but he gains a greater sort of awareness of the people around him. Right? He gains. I don’t know that, like, I don’t know that he goes as far as Lear in terms of, like, he’s still sort of bas. Basically talking about himself when he dies. But it is interesting. I’ve never heard this language in quite this way of. There’s almost pity for Bolingbroke, right? Like, you do. You do end up giving him the crown. You do end up within a couple of lines. Even though you’re. Even though you grandstand about it, there is. You do still do it. Right. So what is it? you know, Is there something about Bolingbroke that convinces you to do that? I don’t know what that is. Let’s just see what happens with that sort of in our heads. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Jamal: Absolutely. And, like, the weight of it is literally what he’s saying. Once you touch that crown, once you sit in that seat, your eyes are open to so many things that you cannot unsee. And so, like, once you sit in a seat of leadership like this, like, those cares are with you for the rest of your life. You know, I remember Michelle Obama talking about. About this in some of her interviews post being in the White House. She’s like, there are things that you find out that you cannot, know. And so that’s what this is. It’s like, yo, ho, ho, ho. These cares I’m passing to you. Cause they’re with the crown, but, brother, they stay with you. You know, it’s kind of like once you put on those clothes, within this realm forever, you will be knowing of these things within this realm, of what is here in the soil and what comes with these things and these lies and this deception and controlling mankind as if you are God. You know, it comes with something that you can never get away from. So I like what you’re triggering.

Will: Yeah, I love this. all right, let’s take it back to, Let’s take it back to the same spot. Let’s take it back to give me the crown, and let’s play all the way through. And this time, I’m not going to stop you, Jamal. I’m going to let you get through the whole deposition speech.

Jamal: Let’s do it. Give me the crown. Yeah. Cousin, seize the crown. Here, cousin on this side, my head on that side, thine. Now is this golden crown, like a deep well that holds two buckets filling one another. The Emptier ever dancing in the air, the other down unseen and full of water I bucket down, and full of tears am I, Drinking my griefs whilst you mount up on high.

Nick: I thought you had been willing to resign my crown.

Jamal: I, am. But still my griefs are mine. You may my glories and my state depose, but not my griefs. Still am I king of those part.

Nick: Of your cares you give me with.

Jamal: Your crown your care set up. Do not pluck my cares

01:05:00

Jamal: down. My care is loss of care by care.

Will: Ah.

Jamal: My care is loss of care by old care done. Your care is gain of care by new care won. The cares I give I have though given away. They tend the crown, yet still with me they stay.

Nick: Are you contented to resign the crown?

Jamal: Ay, no, no. Ay, for I must nothing be. Therefore, no, no, for I resign to thee. Now mark me how I will undo myself. I give this heavy weight from off my head and this unwieldy scepter from my hand, the pride of kingly sway from out my heart with my own tears I wash away my balm. With my own hands I give away my crown with my own tongue, deny my sacred state with my own breath release all duteous oaths, all pomp and majesty I do forswear my manners, rents and revenues I forego my act. Decrees and statutes I deny. God pardon all oaths that are broke. To me God keep. All vows unbroke are made to thee. Make me that nothing have with nothing grieved, and though with all please that hast all achieved, long makes thou live in richer seat to sit and soon lie, Richard, in an, earthly pit. God save King Henry Unkind, Richard says, and send him many years of sunshine days.

Will: Lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely. Yeah, that was really. That was. That was electric, guys. That was really. That was really great.

Jamal: Great.

Will: just looking at the structure of this,

Jamal: Yeah. My first thing is, how is that list? I’m saying it, but I’m not feeling if the list is working. With mine own tears, my own hands, my own tongue, my own breath, and, like, what that wants to do. I’m still trying to grapple with it.

Will: There’s a question. I mean, there’s two roads that sort of, immediately make themselves apparent to me. Either one, it’s pro forma. You’re sort of. You are, like, checking off a list, of, like, I have to say, you know, because when you were anointed, right, they literally anointed the balm is the, like, the holy oil. Right? And the crown and then the sacred state, right, that you are, you are sort of, that you are systematically, taking those things off. But I think it’s like, is that pro forma or is it. You are reminding everyone of all of the things that it’s not just as simple as I’m gonna give you this, this fancy metal hat and now you’re the king, right? You are reminding them that it’s holy oil on your forehead that was made you. That made you king, right? It is the crown, it is your sacred state, right? It’s not. Because again, it’s a fucking theocracy, man. God is king is man, right? with mine own breath release all duties, notes, all pomp and magic. And it does go on. But I do think that’s kind of the point. I feel like he is making sure that everyone understands every single step of what it actually takes to take a king off of the throne. and it gets, and it gets gnarly, right? He starts off with the things that people are expecting, right, which is the oil, the crown, the state, the pomp and majesty, the fancy ass houses, right? The oaths that are going to be broken or unbroken. It’s interesting that it does make me that nothing have with nothing grieved. I always find that line unbelievably moving, right? That it is. It’s. I am giving up everything, but then let me have nothing to grieve me, right? And now with all pleas that it’s all achieved and then it gets. And this is where the line crosses, is crossed, right? This is where again, it’s one of those he chooses pain moments, right? He makes the decision to say, long mayest thou live in Richard’s seat to sit, right? That it is not just God’s seat, it’s my fucking chair, right? So I think

01:10:00

Will: right now we’re sort of blowing through Richard, make sure that nobody can miss that it is Richard’s seat and then make sure that and soon lie Richard in an earthy pit. Earthy pit being your fucking grave, right? That it is. You know, if you are. If this is the list of everything that is going to be half that is going to have to be done in order to take you off of the throne and put him on the throne. You are going to say the thing that everyone is thinking and no one is willing to say out loud, which is at the end of the day, if he really wants to be king, you have to be dead. and it’s. He says it loudly, he says it publicly. and then he puts the crown on his head, I think. You know, there’s. If we were staging this, God save King Henry, you are now King Unkinged, Richard says. And send him many years of sunshine to that. You are. You know, it’s a. It’s a. It’s a. It’s an astonishing piece of rhetorical land mining that, like, you have. You have forever tied the words King Henry to earthy pit. and it’s. It’s. It is a stain that this poor fucker is never, ever gonna be able to wash off of himself. It is. It is. This is. This is the. It starts as an abdication and it ends as a curse. Is that helpful?

Jamal: Yes, that’s very helpful. That’s very helpful. Can I do it again?

Will: Yeah, please. Where do you want to go from?

Jamal: let’s take it from, I think. Are you contented to resign? The crown is pretty cool, actually.

Will: Great. Great. And Nick, that was a great adjustment. So keep. Keep playing with that. Whenever you’re ready, friend.

Nick: Are you contented to resign the crown?

Jamal: I.

Jamal: No. for I must nothing be. Therefore, no, no, for I resign to thee. Now mark me how I will undo myself. I give this heavy weight from off my head and this unwieldy scepter from my hand, the pride of kingly sway from out my heart with mine own tears I wash away my balm with my own hands I give away my crown with my own tongue, Deny my sacred state with my own breath release all dutieth oaths, all pomp and majesty I do forswear my manners, Rents, revenues, I forego my act. Decrees and statutes I deny. God pardon all those that are broke. To me God keep. All vows unbroke are made to thee. Make me that nothing hath with nothing grieved. And thou with all pleas that hast all achieved. Long mayest thou live in Richard’s seat to sit and soon lie Richard in an earthly pit. God save King Henry Unkind. Richard says, and send him many years of sunshine days. What more remains?

Will: No more but that you read these accusations and, these grievous crimes committed by your person and your followers against the state and profit of this land, that by confessing them the souls of men may deem that you are worthily deposed.

Jamal: Must I do so? And must I ravel out my weaved up follies? Gentle Northumberland, if thy offenses were upon record, would it not shame thee in so fair a troop to read a lecture of them? M. If thou Wouldst then, should thou find one heinous article. Containing the deposing of a king. And cracking the strong warrant of an oath, marked with a blot damned and the book of heaven. Nay, all of you that stand and look upon me. Whilst that of my wretchedness doth bait myself. Though

01:15:00

Jamal: some of you with pallet wash your hands, showing an outward pity, yet you, palace have here delivered me to my sour cross. And water cannot wash away your sins.

Will: My lord, dispatch, read o’er these articles. Mine eyes are, ah, full of tears.

Jamal: Can I see? And yet salt water blinds them not so much, but they can see a sort of traitors here. Nay, I turn my eyes upon myself. I find myself a traitor with the rest. For I have given here my soul’s consent to undeck the pompous body of a king. May glory base and sovereignty a slave proud majesty a, subject state. A peasant, my lord. No lord of thine. Thou halt insulting man nor no man’s lord. I have no name. No title? No, not that name was given me at the font, but tis usurped. Alack, the heavy day that I have worn so many winters out. And know not now what name to call myself. Oh, that I were mockery King of Snow, standing before the sun of Bolingbroke. To melt myself away in water drops. Good king, great king, and yet not greatly good. And if my word be sterling yet in England, let it command a mirror hither straight. That it may show me what a face I have. Since it is bankrupt of his majesty.

Nick: Go some of you, and fetch a looking glass.

Will: Read o’er this paper while the glass doth come.

Jamal: Thee, thou tormentst me ere, I come to hell.

Nick: Urge it no more, my Lord Northumberland.

Will: Commons will not then be satisfied.

Jamal: They shall be satisfied. I’ll read enough. When I do see the very book indeed where all my sins are writ and that’s myself. Give me the glass, and therein I will read. No deeper wrinkles yet Hath sour struck so many blows upon this face of mine and made no deeper wounds? O flat, winged glass, like to my followers in prosperity, Thou dost beguile me. Was this face the face that every day under this household roof did keep 10,000 men? Was this the face that, like the sun, did make beholders wink? Is this the face with face, so many follies that was at last outfaced by Bolingbroke? A brittle glory shineth in this face. As brittle as the glory is the face. For there it is okay, and there’s A thing. Can we pause here?

Will: Yeah, yeah. Ah, absolutely. Oh, did you have something you wanted to talk?

Jamal: No, I wanted to pause because I was getting in this space of like floating. I wanted to just process what’s happening was being received.

Will: Well, there was. There was a lot of interest. I didn’t want to stop you because there was a lot of interesting stuff happening. expound. What do you mean, floating?

Jamal: It’s like, you know, and so when I dive into the language and let the language kind of ride without trying to control it, it takes me into the spiritual space in which I feel Richard must be in, where, like, he’s speaking and processing in real time and he’s also kind of floating about upon these words coming out of his mouth.

Will: Yeah, absolutely.

Jamal: Like, it’s like coming to that end where, like, it’s like. It’s like you’re doing all these things. You’re giving it away. And I can consider. The only thing I can relate this to is like, grief.

Will: Yeah, he, Is like.

Jamal: It’s like. Yeah, like it’s dead and it’s done. But until you go through the whole. The Whole formalities of having a funeral and then going to the grave and having more formalities and then putting the body in the ground until it’s covered with dirt, like you really don’t touch the ground again. And so I feel like in this speech I felt myself as the actor starting to float away. And, wanted to also still ground

01:20:00

Jamal: and just wanted some reflection, I think, to make sure that that’s happening in the right places and that the language is landing where it needs.

Will: Does that make it absolutely. Yeah, it absolutely is. And I would have stopped you if it wasn’t like it’s. I do. He is grieving and, he is in the middle of his own funeral because he’s not. This man’s not gonna get a funeral, really. M. And even if he does, I mean, he ended up. He was buried in state, but, you know, it’s complicated. Like, he’s not gonna. No one’s gonna eulogize him. No one’s gonna remember him fondly. This is the closest that this man is going to get outside of the. I mean, it’s a twofold death. Right. It’s the death of him as king. But also he knows that he’s going to die soon. He knows he’s going to die alone. He knows he’s going to die in a cold place. He doesn’t know where, but it will be a cold, dark place.

Nick: I don’t know if it matters at all, but I feel Bolingbroke is going through something right here, too. And I think that your impulse is right, Jamal, because. Because, he says, someone get him the glass that he wants. And he doesn’t say, remove this man right now. He says, let him have the glass and let him tell us what he wants to say. And then Northumberland gets on Richard, and Bolingbroke defends Richard and says, urgent. No more Northumberland. I think there is a moment of general. I think Richard is breaking, breaking through, you know, and even Bolingbroke, at this point, it seems like, you know, maybe that what you were feeling was the right impulse, Jamal, because there’s a sense of set for everybody in the room.

Jamal: Yeah. And then I got to that glass, I was like, oh, I don’t got shit to break. I ain’t breaking nothing. I’m gonna stop.

Will: But, Nick, I think you’ve cut right through. Like, I think it is, Jamal, that sort of sense of, like, floating above yourself, I think that’s exactly where he. Like, I don’t know that. I don’t know that you need to, like, control anything, but let’s thank you.

Jamal: For that, because as an actor, like, taking care of yourself as the actor was like, that space of, like, oh, some of these truths are hitting a little bit too deep, if I’m honest. Like, that space between Richard and who I am. because it’s heavy. It’s heavy to even, like, you know, say those words and, like, even, like, imagining that I’m looking at the words, looking at my face, and actually consumption this outward shell that will become dirt again. It’s something to do. To do that type of shadow mirror work and then in public and then still have to go through the process of, like, exiling yourself, in a sense, to, like, this doom.

Will: And it is. It is. It is so fascinating. Like, I think you are. You’re just going on the journey, man. Like, I think, like, you’re like, it’s so fascinating that you’re holding us here because. Because not 30 lines later, he says, let me beg one boon.

Jamal: Let me go.

Will: I just want to go, like. Because he. Not in. Not in. Not much time at all. Richard is going to get to a place where he just doesn’t want to be perceived anymore. Right. Like, he has allowed himself to be so open and so vulnerable in front of the people who are his worst enemies in the world. And it’s. You know, it might be a victory on some level, but I don’t Know that it feels like. Like it to him. I’ve got a couple thoughts that I’d like to share with you that are just. They’re purely technical because, again, I think you’re going on the journey in such a beautiful way. And I really do believe that great directors know when to get the hell out of the way. So I don’t want to mess with anything. I would encourage you to use these O’s just a little bit more and don’t force it. I don’t need like a. Don’t go all David Garrick on me. But, but I think they are. It’s just an, you know, it’s just an opening up. Right. And I think that especially I’m looking at this. Oh, flattering glass. Because the only other thing that I would want to layer in, in terms of how we’re handling the language is I think that some of these ideas, again, can surprise us a little bit more. Right. That I think it’s. Again, I love. I don’t know. I’m talking a lot. I just finished. Forgive me, whoever’s listening to this podcast, you can play a drinking game every time I say the word. Simon Russell be able to take a shot. It’s only just because I finished listening to this audiobook. But he was. He did a season of restoration fops, at the rsc and he played sir, Fopling Flutter in the man of Mode. And, there’s a. There’s a bit in. The director insisted that, you know, Foppling Flutter is often sort of played just for laughs. And he is much mocked in the play for his appearance. You know, he’s extravagant and he’s sort of very shallow. And the director insisted that he actually look very good, that he sort of be a living work of art, which I think Richard certainly considers himself to be. I think Richard’s

01:25:00

Will: appearance and the way that he presents himself is something that he spent a lot of time looking at mirrors. And with good reason. The man is good looking and he has the full power of the English treasury behind him, to deck himself out. Right. but there’s a moment in the man of Mode where, Sir Foppling Flutter sings. Basically all the guys have sort of gone out and they’ve like, one of them had an unsatisfactory sexual encounter with a woman and the rest of them just plain struck out. And they’re all in Foppling Flutter’s apartment and they’re sort of drowning their sorrows. And one of them Says to fopling flutter, please sing us a song. And oftentimes the moment is played as being very comic. And Simon Russell Beale is a chorister by training originally, and so he has a lovely voice. And so they had him just sing the song very well. And then in the play, he then goes and, walks upstage to a mirror and looks at his reflection. And I don’t know the lines, but basically someone says, what are you doing? And he says, paraphrasing grossly, but he says that I think that there is no greater solace than looking at your own reflection or something like that. And basically, it’s sort of like in that moment, it sort of revealed that this character who’s been mocked is actually profoundly lonely. But I think that there is. I love this moment, specifically of him bracing himself to look in the mirror, right? Because again, it’s a series of decisions for Richard. Like, just, like, he’s given the crown, and then he makes the decision to hold out the crown, and then he makes the decision to not give the crown. He’s handed the mirror. Oh, God, there wasn’t a mirror in the little room they were keeping you. And it’s like, oh, God, I haven’t showered. Am I. Oh, I’ve been so stressed. I don’t know what I’m gonna find. And then he looks in the mirror, and it’s just. He sees the same face, you know? And I think that. I think that undoes, him a little bit. I think that it is. It’s. Oh, my God, I’m still beautiful, you know, I think it’s.

Jamal: Oh, that’s big.

Will: It’s that. Oh, thank God. Oh, my God. but then it’s. And this is the. This is the heartbreaking journey of this poor, wounded, lonely man, right? And that, I think that’s the key, right, is that he is. His tragedy is the realization that he has always been alone. And, I think it happens at this exact moment. He looks in the mirror, he’s like, oh, my God, I’m still beautiful. Oh, I don’t know that that’s right. I don’t know if that’s true anymore. Right. Flattering glass. Like, to my followers in prosperity thou dost beguile. I don’t know where the guardrails are. And so I think he. And this scene has got everything right. He’s gone from this moment of extreme power. He has summoned in himself the full might of that God King connection to just fucking obliterate bullying Brook, right? And now he’s. And now it’s the comedown. And it’s. He’s like the full weight of the decision that he has just made is landing on him. And I think it happens here as he’s looking at. It’s a very long way of saying. And it’s. All of this is. You’re doing all of this beautifully. But I think that O is the moment of realization. So don’t rush through it, don’t push it, but give yourself room. And there was one other O. Oh, that I were a mockery king of snow. Right. Standing before the son of Bolingbroke to melt myself away in water drops. Because I think that’s also. That’s the third place. Right? There’s the public venue, there’s the private connection with him and Bolingbroke, and then there’s Richard. And Richard’s very fertile imagination. He goes. There are places where he, like, he brings it down to Bolingbroke. And then he also totally retreated treats.

Jamal: Yeah.

Will: Yeah. I’m sorry I talked a long time.

Jamal: Nothing. Sorry about you. I’m long winded too, so I’m grateful to be in the room with my kind.

Will: I love. I don’t need you to implement any of that right now because I do want to make sure that you have an opportunity to do the whole thing. So let’s just take it from, Let’s just take it from the moment before shattering the mirror. Let’s play through to the end. and then, ah, stopping every once in a while as needed. And then I want to go back and I want to give you a crack at the whole thing. Just sort of thinking about all beautiful. so somewhere. Somewhere in there. Whatever, Wherever feels best for you, Jamal.

Jamal: Sounds good.

Jamal: Was this the face that, like the sun did make beholders wink? Is this the face with face? So many follies that was at

01:30:00

Jamal: last outfaced by Bolingbroke. A, brittle glory shineth in this face. As brittle as the glory is the face, for there it is cracked in a hundred shivers. Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport. How soon my sorrow hath destroyed my face.

Nick: The shadow of your sorrow hath destroyed the shadow of your face.

Jamal: Say that again. The shadow of my sorrow. Let’s see. It’s very true. My grief lies all, within. And these external manners of laments are, merely shadows in the unseen grief that swells with silence. In the tortured soul, there lies the substance. And thank thee, King, for thy great bounty, that not only gifts me Calls to well, but teaches me the way how to lament the cause. I’ll beg one boon and then be gone and trouble you no more shall I obtain it.

Nick: Name it, fair cousin.

Jamal: I am greater than a king. But when I was a king, my flatterers were then but subjects. Being now a subject, I have a king here. To my flatterer being so great, I have no need to beg.

Nick: Yet ask.

Jamal: And shall I have,

Nick: You shall.

Jamal: Then give me leave to go. Whither. Whither you will so I were from your sights.

Nick: Go. some of you. Convey him to the tower.

Will: O good.

Jamal: That rise thus nimbly. By a true king’s fall.

Nick: On Wednesday next, we solemnly set down our coronation. Lords, prepare yourselves.

Will: Beautiful. Really, really beautiful, guys.

Jamal: I like him. Leaving, laughing. I wrote this poem a little while ago. I said, no matter how I go, I want to go out smiling. Rather it’s painfully or gleefully. I want to die. Smile. That I did good.

Will: I love that man. yeah, And I think that’s Richard, right? He manages to snatch dignity out of what should be the most humiliating moment of his life. It’s beautiful. it’s good. And, Nick, I just want to again, like, I know that we spend a lot of time with Richard tonight because Richard’s got so much text, but I love this track that you’re going down of. Of finding compassion for Richard. Right. Like, and I’d never thought that Bolingbroke says, name it, fair cousin.

Jamal: Right.

Will: That there is, an acknowledgement of that familial connection. And there is at that same time that shift. Right. Whither you will so I were from your sights. Okay. Convey him to the tower. Like. Okay, you win.

Nick: It’s that he’s been magnanimous enough. Yeah.

Will: yeah, well. And, Richard, it almost, in a weird way, it is almost a kindness because you are finally acknowledging the truth.

Jamal: Yeah.

Will: Yeah. Okay.

Nick: You know what’s interesting? As I was thinking about that the video you sent about original pronunciation.

Jamal: Miranda.

Nick: And I realized that, this is silly, but shadow sounds a lot like shattered, you know, especially if it was said in original pronunciation with those R’s. and because I was trying to make. Make meaning of shadow.

Will: Ah.

Nick: Of your sorrow had destroyed the shadow of your face. And, it has to do, I believe, with the illusion of being king. you know, as opposed to, you know, it’s his reflection. It is not the truth. I, mean, we could discuss that line because I am still going back and forth on what he means by the shadow of your sorrow hath destroyed the shadow of your face.

01:35:00

Nick: And I know that it’s relating to the reality of reflection. but I don’t know. Do you have any further to add to that, Will or Miranda?

Will: Well, Miranda, why don’t you go first? Because I’ve got thoughts, but they’re not so much about the meaning of the line and more just surreal, like the playing of it. Miranda?

Miranda: Yeah, it’s a tricky line, isn’t it? But, you know, I’ve always heard it as, Bolingbroke is,

Miranda: Essentially saying, these are just shadows. This is not a reality. This is not rooted in any actual fact. this is just your impressions, of,

Nick: Yeah, the reality isn’t as great as the reflection. You’re really not that good looking, for sure. But you are, Jamal.

Jamal: You are.

Nick: But, you know.

Miranda: Yeah, you are. Maybe not. Not that exactly, but more. You’re making too much of this, you know, I. Oh, that’s lovely.

Jamal: Yeah.

Miranda: I view the energy around it as being something of an admonition. It’s like. And again, there can be that familiar familiarity, you know, in there, but a cousinly familiarity. But basically, this is not the tragedy that you’re insisting on making it. And of course it is, you know, But I see it as Bolingbroke’s attempt, to sort of interrupt the narrative, you know, that Richard has just controlled so thoroughly in this. In this scene.

Nick: so that it’s a beautiful line. I really, you know, it’s a. It’s an incredibly deep comeback to all of this. That.

Will: And.

Nick: And there’s. Each thing that I read him saying makes me get more of a sense that there is. There is love for Richard, that Bolingbroke does care about him in a way, you know, or he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t waste his time with any of this if he didn’t, you know.

Will: He’s the only member of your family, outside of your uncle, that I think we, you know, he’s the only cousin left, pretty much. Sorry, Miranda, I interrupt?

Miranda: Yeah, no, well, I was just. I was just mulling over how also I think the two of them, Richard and Bolingbroke, to an extent, also exemplify that ever popular renaissance and beyond, concept of the active versus the contemplative man, you know, And Bolingbroke, of course, is the active man, and Richard is the contemplative and also the wordy man. but, ah, it goes back to at least 200 years earlier in Italy. And then it extends at Least to Milton with Ludgro and Il penseroso. And just that whole dichotomy, I think is a concept and a cultural concept that certainly Shakespeare’s audiences would have been familiar with. And that, for me, underlies this scene as well. Yeah. Will, what do you. What are your thoughts?

Will: Well, the only thing. The only thing that I have to add to that is it is all of these things, and it is also not true. And I think that’s what Richard sort of immediately. You know, Richard dances circles around him immediately afterwards. Right. It’s like.

Miranda: Right.

Will: M. Maybe my favorite line in this is, you know, I thank the king that not only gives me calls to Will, but teaches me the way how to love. Lament the cause. It’s one of the best fuck Shakespeare ever wrote. But it’s also like he’s calling. Like Richard’s calling him on a shit, right? And I think that, like, it is m. It is that moment, right, of, like, I think. And I’d never considered this with Bolingbroke, but I. But it. But I think it is there, right? It’s coming out of. Out of your work, Nick, and this discussion, but that Bolingbroke does want his family to stay together on some level, right? And is on some level fighting for that and is starting to realize that it is a lost cause.

Nick: Yeah. Yeah. Like, he could. He could just live in the tower forever, but. But even making that very easy.

Will: But then he doesn’t go to the tower, right? He is intercepted and taken to Pomfret Castle, where he can be killed quietly.

Miranda: Quietly.

Will: Yeah. The shadow. But so the shadow of your sorrow, the story. The shadow of your face. Like, it is. Like it is deep and it is beautiful, but it is also kind of lac. Like, I don’t know, it feels like it’s beautiful, but it’s not an. It’s not, It’s still a lie. Like, it’s. It’s just still alive. And I think it’s a fascinating public.

Nick: Like, he’s saying fake news, sort of. It’s a, It’s a thing for the people in the room. basically.

Will: Well, and I think. But I think it also can. Like, I don’t want to. I don’t want to dissuade you from. I think it is. It can be alive. Both.

Jamal: Both.

Will: And I think he’s really. At the end of the day, Nick. I wonder if he isn’t lying to himself about. Interesting.

Nick: Yeah.

Jamal: That.

Will: I think that on some level,

01:40:00

Will: does Bolingbroke think That he could just get the crown and live in peace with Richard. And Richard is not going to let that happen.

Nick: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Will: I see that. Which then.

Miranda: M. Sorry, I was just gonna get a say. And then when we remember, even though this. These are not the plays we’re studying, but that you can’t separate them, when we remember that Henry IV will just be tormented for the rest of his life. And Henry V, you know, the night before the battle of Agincourt is saying, not today. Oh, God. Oh, not today. You know, don’t, don’t, don’t take it out on me. The sin my father made encompassing the crown, you know, and I’ve. I’ve built these chantries for Richard’s soul. And, you, know, 500 poor hold up their withered hands, et cetera. But so. So it’s just going to extend forever. And maybe, I don’t know, maybe Bolingbroke is realizing, just glimpsing that in this moment, very obscurely. But because you’re right, he’s not. Richard’s not going to let this. He’s not going to go away quietly. This is not going to happen.

Will: But I think this shadow of your sorrow is sort of the last gasp right before he. Then it’s that final concession of taken m to the tower. Yeah. Yeah. You win. You win. All right, we have 10 minutes left. I strongly suspect that this is longer than 10 minutes, but I want to give the two of you tilt at it. So, Jamal, on your beautiful. I love the decision to laugh as you exit. Go ahead and actually kill your camera and exit laughing. And Nick, let that laughter die out. Let that silence sort of hang there for a minute before that on Wednesday next. And let’s just see what that does. So this is probably the last thing that we’ll have time to do for today, but beautiful work, my friends. Let’s take it all the way back to Richard’s, entrance. When you are ready.

Jamal: Alack, why am I sent for to a king? Before I have shook off the regal thoughts Wherewith I reigned, I hardly yet have learned to insinuate, flatter, bow and bend my knee, Give sorrow leave a while to tutor me to this submission. Yet I, well remember the favors of these men. Were they not mine? Did they not sometime cry all, all hell to me? So Judas did to Christ but he and 12 found truth in all but one I in 12,000 none God save the king. Will no man say Amen? Am I both priest and clerk? Well, then, amen. God Save the king, although I be not he and yet amen. If heaven do think him, me to do, what service am I sent for hitherto?

Will: To do that office of thine own good will, which tired majesty did make thee offer the resignation of thy state and crown to Henry Bolingbroke.

Jamal: Give me the crown. Here, cousin See the crown, dear cousin on this side, my hand on that side. Thine. Now is this golden crown, like a deep well that holds two buckets filling one another, the emptier ever dancing in the air, the other down, unseen and full of water. That bucket down and full of tears am I drinking my griefs whilst you mount up on high. I thought you had been willing to resign my crown. I am, But still my griefs are mine. You may my glories and my state depose, but not my griefs. Still am I king of those part.

Nick: Of your cares you give me with.

Jamal: Your crown

01:45:00

Jamal: your care set up, do not pluck my cares down. My care is loss of care by old care done. Your care is gain of care by new care wonder. The cares I give I have though given away. They tend the crown, yet still with me they stay.

Nick: Are you contented to resign the crown?

Jamal: Ay, no, no, ay, for I must nothing be. Therefore, no, no, for I resign to thee now mock me how I will undo myself. I give this heavy weight from off my head in this unwieldy scepter from my hand the pride of kingly sway from out my heart with mine own tears I wash away my balm with my own hands I give away my crown with my own tongue, Deny my sacred state with my own breath, release all duteous oaths, all pomp and majesty. I do forswear my manners, rents, revenues, I forego my acts, decrees and statutes I deny. God pardon all oaths that are broke to me God keep all vows unbroke are made to thee. Make me that nothing have with nothing grieved, and though with all pleas that hast all achieved, Long mayest thou live in Richard’s seat to sit and soon lie Richard in an earthly pit. God save King Hill. Henry Unkind, Richard says, and send him many years of sunshine days. Hm. What more remains?

Will: No more but that you read these accusations and these grievous crimes committed by your person and your followers against the state and profit of this land, that by confessing them the souls of men may deem that you are worthily deposed.

Jamal: Must I do so? And must I ravel out my weaved up, follies. Gentle Northumberland, if thy offenses were upon record, would it not shame thee in so fair a troop to read a lecture of them? If thou wouldst, there shouldst thou find one heinous article containing the deposing of a king, and cracking the strong warrant of an oath, marked with a blot, damned in the book of heaven. Nay, all of you that stand and look upon me whilst that of my wretchedness doth bait myself, though some of you with pallet wash your hands, showing an outward pity, yet you pallets have here delivered me to my sour cross. And water cannot wash away your sins.

Will: My lord, dispatch, read o’er these articles.

Jamal: Mine eyes are full of tears, cannot see, and yet salt water blinds them. Not so much, but they can see. Some sort of traitors here. Nay, if I turn my eyes upon myself, I find myself a traitor with the rest. I have given him my soul’s consent to undeck the pompous body of a king made glory base and sovereignty a slave, proud majesty a subject state, a peasant.

Will: My lord.

Jamal: No lord of thou, thou halt. Insulting man nor no man’s lord. I have no name. No title? No, not that name was given me at the font. But tis usurped. Alack, the heavy day that I have worn so many winters out. And know not, know not now what name to call myself. Oh, that I were a mockery, King of snow, standing before the son of Bolingbroke to melt myself away. And water drops. Good king, great king, yet not so greatly good. And if my word be sterling yet in England, let it command a mirror hither straight. That it may mean my face. That it may show me what? That it may show me what a face I have, since it is bankrupt of his majesty.

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Nick: Go some of you, and fetch a looking glass.

Will: Read o’er this paper while the glass doth come.

Jamal: Being thou torments me, ere I come to hell.

Nick: Urge it no more, my Lord Northumberland.

Will: Commons, will not then be satisfied.

Jamal: They shall be satisfied. I’ll read enough. When I do see the very book indeed where all my sins are it, and that’s myself. Give me the glass, and therein will I read no deeper wrinkles. Yet hath sorrow struck so many blows upon this face of mine and make no deeper wounds, like to my followers in prosperity? Thou dost beguile me. Was this face the face that every day under this household roof did keep 10,000 men? Was this the face that, like the sun, did make beholders wink? Is this the face with face so many follies that was at last outfaced by Bolingbroke. A, brittle glory shineth in this face. As brittle as the glory is the face, for there it is cracked in a hundred shivers. Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport. How soon my sorrow hath destroyed my face.

Nick: The shadow of your sorrow hath destroyed the shadow of your face.

Jamal: Oh, say that again. The shadow of my sorrow. Let’s see. It’s very true. My grief lies all within. And these external manners of laments are, merely shadows to the unseen grief that swells with silence. In this tortured soul there lies the substance. And I thank thee, King, for thy great bounty that not only gives me cause to wail, but teaches me the way how to lament the cause. I’ll beg one moon and then be gone and trouble you no more shall I obtain it.

Nick: Name it, fair cousin.

Jamal: Fair cousin, I am greater than a king. For when I was king, my flatterers were then but subjects. Being now a subject, I have a king here. To my flatterer being so great, I have no need to beg.

Nick: Yet ask, and shall I have you shall.

Jamal: Then give me leave to go.

Nick: Whither.

Jamal: Whither you will so I were from your sights.

Nick: Go some of you convey him to the tower.

Jamal: That rise thus nimbly to a true king’s fall.

Nick: On Wednesday next, we solemnly set down our coronation. Lords, prepare yourselves.

Will: Lovely work, friends. Really, really beautiful work. it’s great. Yeah, I think that’s all we’ve got time for. For tonight. But really, really, really stunning work, friends.

Miranda: That was terrific.

Will: Yeah, it’s fun to dance with.

Jamal: It’s a journey. You had to be with it, you know, and so thank you all for your. For being a mirror today.

Nick: That’s. It’s an exhausting scene. It’s a huge scene.

Will: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jamal: It’s.

Nathan: It’s so much fun to see you. The different, layers that you guys are finding and not just, you know, in the text, of course, you know, understanding what’s going on, but bringing some, you

01:55:00

Nathan: know, more elements of your personalities or things to just, you know, making that, you know, creating those private moments. Jamal, like, I think those are just really fun choices to see and to explore. and, Nick, you were talking about, like, you know, the familiarity between them, too. I had this image of, you know, I thought you were going to give up the crown. Like, it’s almost like the two of you are on the dais on stage, and you’re like, through gritted teeth of, like, what are you Doing, like, you know, like, what do you.

Will: I thought.

Nathan: I thought we’ve talked about this, you know, and you’re both smiling, and for the cameras, everything looks good. And it’s like, dude, what. What are you doing? Yeah, so, yeah, no, there’s, some. Just some great imagery you guys are bringing up, I think, so really fun, enjoying this immensely. So thank you. All right, well, we have kind of an abbreviated month, you know, with this series, but, so next week will be, you know, our final session. But, it’s been a lot of fun. We’ll see Nick as, Richard next week, and Jamal, is Bolingbroke. And, yeah, we’ll just continue to have some fun. The conversations have been so rich. Thank you guys all so much for your energy and your time and, Yeah, it’s just been such a joy to be an observer.

Will: Thanks for setting this up.

Nathan: You’re very welcome. You guys have a great evening. We’ll see you back next time.

Jamal: See you next time. Siena says bye. Here’s the dog.

Miranda: Oh.

Jamal: Oh, good.

Nathan: Oh, sweet. And for those watching, you know, you got to support this. So Jamal can, you know, feed the dog and take it on walks and all that stuff. Go to Patreon, YouTube, subscribe. you know, we all have pets. We all gotta, you know, keep. Keep them healthy. So, you know, help us keep the, lights on and keep those pets healthy. Nick, has expensive you all.

Jamal: It’s $167 every two weeks. Donate to us. We all got pets out here.

Will: Okay.

Nick: True.

Will: That’s great.

Nathan: All right, thank you guys so much. We’ll see you next time. Have a great night.

Will: Bye.

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