Inside Shakespear’s mind:

King John ....of earls and lords, and their ladies

The illegitimate son of King Richard 1 by Lady Faultenbridge and known as Philip the Bastard, was created as Sir Richard Plantagent after its revelation. He plays the longest part with 511 lines of dialogue in John 1, but never lends weight to the play.

Why did Shakespeare had to create this character no one knows. Not even the Bard himself. May be it is the identity of someone knew and that is how Shakespeare's mind works.

Synopsis

Written in 1594-6 and sited in France and England in the beginning of the thirteenth century, Shakespeare has weighed down the play King John with too many characters that drive directors up the wall when they attempt to stage it. King Philip of France sends his ambassador, Chatlion, demanding King John's crown for Arthur, the young son of John's elder brother, Arthur. Furious at the request, John declares war and he is followed to France by Philip the Bastard.

Angiers which is 200 miles southwest of Paris, is the meeting ground for the English and French armies. When the citizens declare that they will only recognise the rightful King of England, the two armies temporarily unite to assault the town. A little bit of peace is arrived at after the citizens suggest that Lewis, the Daupine of France Marry John's niece, Bianca of Spain and Arthur to become Duke of Bretagne.

The boy's mother, Constance is furious and assails King Philip and his ally, the Duke of Australia for his treacherous deal. (in the French King's camp)

Blanch of Spain, niece of King John

Constance – ‘Gone to be married; Gone to swear peace; False blood to false blood
join'd; Gone to be friends.
Shall Lewis have Blanche, and Blanche hose provinces.
It is not so, thou has misspoken, misheard, but well advis'd,
tell o'er thy tale again .... ACT. 111, Scel.

The newly-patched peace is brief as Cardinal Pandulp, the papal legate, arrives to excommunicate John for disobedience to the Pope and also because King Philip is also excommunicated unless he breaks his pact with John. The battle begins afresh. The Bastard kills the Duke of Austria and Arthur is taken prisoner and sent to England. While Constance is mourning for him, John secretly orders Hubert de Burgh to dispose the boy.

Hubert after receiving a royal command to blind Arthur,resist from doing so but instead hide the boy and announce his death. This false news take from John the support from the Lords Salisbury and Pembroke.

All problems are heaped on him as the Daupine is ready to invade England and John learns that his mother, Elinor has died and also Constance. To top them all the barons too move away from him. Through Hubert he learns that Arthur was not killed but alive. Later he was to learn that Arthur too died when he attempted to run away from Northampton Castle and was killed.

John yields to the Pope but refuses to obey the orders of Pandulph to return to France and support the English barons and fight the army. He retires to Swinstead Abbey in Linconshire.

Here, the king is joined by Salisbury and Pembroke reliably informed that the Dauphine intends to kill them. At Swinstead, John is poisoned by a monk and dies in the orchard. In the meantime, Lewis has withdrawn the army leaving Pandulph to arrange terms for peace and the Bastard to acknowledge the young Prince Henry as Henry 111.

In Performance on stage

The play is far from being reliable historically because it does not mention the principle domestic event in John's reign. A dominant figure in King John is the Bastard who has the final patriotic outburst. The play is better in performance than in text though with usual troubles in the theatre. In 1737 it was revived after more than a century and half a Convent Garden. Garrick's at Drury Lane who also played John was the Shakespearian one and the other was Colley Cibber's version under the title of Papal Tyranny in the Reign of King John, an utter flop.

The public approved the dresses and decorations as Macready revived the chronicle with magnificance at Drury Len in 1842. Charles Keane revived it for the Princess's and a number of Old Vic and Stratford productions followed. The young Paul Scofield who had gained momentum acting the role of the Bastard did so in magnetism.

The number of versions by different directors kept the play enhanced with top Thespians acting King John and Bastard. Royal Shakespeare Company had her own version mounted in 1988 at the Startford.

Elsewhere, directors could not resist the play with the New York Shakespeare Festival presenting King John twice over. Again it saw the boards in 1967 and 1988 at the Delacorte Theatre.

Franck Rich called this production as a tale of undercutting and over reaching. Strafford, Ontario in 1961 and again in 1974.

Credits

King John – One of
the butts in English
history though at
times Holinshed said
he might have had a
princely heart in him.
Philip the Bastard –
Later Sir Richard
Plantagener, an
honest impatient soldier.
Illegitimate son of
Lady Faulconbridge.
Arthur – Not just a
show piece but an
Athurian legend. Needs
a good boy actor though
is the tradition of girls
playing the role
Constance – Arthur’s
beautiful betrayed
mother. Her part is a
mixture of
overburdened lines
and ofter referred to
as ‘crying Constance’.
Hubert de Burgh –
Arthur’s warden, believed
to be the first citizen
of Angiers.
Archduke of
Austria – Pompous
and bragging and
gets killed at Angiers.
Lord Salisbury –
Following John’s
second coronation,
the most frequently
quoted character in the
play but outstanding in
English literature.
King Philip of
France – among the
more vacillating
monarchs. Do not
know what to say.
Blanch of Spain -
‘Whenever wins, I shall
lose’ says Blanch
Prince Harry – The
youth who will be
Henry 111 before
John’s death.
Cardinal Pandulph –
Casuistical legate to
the Pope, plays like a
shadow of great
cross borne before him.
Lewis the Dauphine –
Heir to the French
throne. His sudden
willingness to marry
Blanch of Spain rouses
the Bastard’s sardonic
contempt. Historically
the marriage remains idylic.
Queen Elinor –
John’s mother. Her
son’s evil doings disgusts her.