King John - 19th May 2012

One of the joys of our 21st century has been the late discovery of the Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford. After our first visit in 2002 to see an Richard Jones' odd (if enjoyable) version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" we have returned most years.

Like people who collect football league grounds I am (slowly) attempting to see all of Shakespeare's plays, so the appearance of this rarely seen play encouraged me to overcome a broken car and travel by train to see "King John".

You can see why this isn't performed more often as it doesn't easily fit into any obvious genre. It is one of his earlier plays and is a history story with John enjoying his coronation following the death of his brother Richard the Lionheart. Even the threat of war with France didn't deflect his arrogance having usurped Arthur, the son of John's brother Geoffrey.

But, having acquired the power he (and his dominant mother) wanted, he soon discovers it is harder to keep it. This is one of Shakespeare's wordy plays with the physical action occuring (conveniently) offstage. It is therefore essential that the director keeps an audience involved and here Maria Aberg is exceptional.

From the start, the Bastard (Shakespeare's name) arrives with an old-fashioned microphone to sing an uptempo version of " Land of Hope and Glory" which the audience join in with (rather impressively) and immediately we are part of a
patriotic masse.

The marriage of Lewis the Dauphin and Blanche is celebrated with a stunning wedding dinner celebration in their own style of " Dirty Dancing" with " The Time Of My Life" performed into front of a Strictly Come Dancing style audience. The second half commences with John's second coronation releasing a stage full of confetti and a huge number of huge balloons allowing the actors to kick them in anger as events get increasingly bad for them. One of the most beautiful moments occurs when Arthur nudges one of them slowly down the ramparts preceeding his suicide moments later.

Then, as King John is dying Alex Waldmann embarks one of the most challenging pieces of drama I have ever witnessed. He has to show us his forthcoming death by poisoning and his desperation to avoid his fate by dancing to the Four Seasons song "Beggin", centre-stage, all alone. That this succeeds is a testiment to the skill of the actor and the imagination of the director. Similarly, the choice of PJ Harvey's " Let England Shake" as we left the auditorium was a master-stroke.

This production is awash with ideas but some questions remained unanswered, how does John's mother die, why did Arthur kill himself, who was the monk who poisoned John etc? Perhaps this matters more to a modern audience brought up on endless detective shows and Scandinavian murder dramas than Shakespeare who is more concerned with intentions and consequences.

As always at Stratford the acting is of a high quality. In the title role Alex Waldmann perfectly shows the arrogance and contempt for the French and Arthur though I was less convinced of his emotional involvement when his crown is at stake in the second act.

Pippa Nixon as The Bastard steals the show, clearly relishing her unexpected advancement at the beginning of act one and the pace of the piece clearly picked up when she was on stage. John Stahl was an impressive Philip of France ( especially in the hysterical marriage sequence) with Susie Trayling providing most of the emotional drive as Arthur's mother.

This isn't an easy play to watch or perform but with thanks to an interesting perspective from the director this is a welcome addition to a Shakespeare watcher's portfolio.