Richard II hands over the crown to a usurper, and the now-deposed monarch asks for a mirror. ‘That it may show me what a face I have.’ In the new production at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at the Globe, the glass is a rectangle, size of an i-pad. Richard takes it in both hands and looks, long and hard. What face does Richard see? Not, as in virtually any previous production, the face of a white … [Read more...]
Propwatch: the crown and buckets in Richard II
Richard II gives up power – though it’s not his choice. His cousin Henry Bolingbroke has returned from exile, led a rebellion, become king of the castle. Richard’s toppled monarch is now a dirty rascal. Shakespeare stages this concretely – a crown passed from one to another. The supposed divinity of majesty proves portable as a party hat. Richard, as often, reaches for an arresting metaphor: here, … [Read more...]