UK Library hire £1 a month + play at the Old Vic London

Wanted to see this before I see the play, and got this version from the library, they do the complete works on video for a £1 each to hire for a month, don't know about other parts of the world, but thought it may be useful info too someone, I really enjoyed this one, and plan to hire the rest of the works I haven't seen yet. As I tend to have seen some works like Hamlet and midsummer nights dream so many times but others none at all.

I think Richard II imho it is one of Shakespeare's tougher plays to understand and Richard is a quite hard character to play with lots of long lines where he basically evaluates himself in speech and flips between moods and opinions, he seems quite mad at times, and is very spoilt and selfish, but not very powerful because everyone manipulates him and he seems easily swayed by everyone around him. He's not a very nice person, very selfish and manipulating.

I guess before the plays starts he has to contend with his Father dying one year, his Granddad the next and then that means he takes the throne at 10 years old, and has to ride out and deal with a revolt where the leader Wat Tyler is accidentally killed when they think raising his hand he is going to attack the king and this is at 14, enough to warp anyone, in that case he takes leadership of the peasant revolting but then betrays them.

It seems a lesson of if you let power go to your head and be unjust you will be brought down, it's so great that Shakespeare wrote plays about the kings, another great source to understand and enrich the Shakespeare is David starchy's series Monarchy.

I was confused also that Henry Bolingbroke ( Richard's Grandfather's other son John of Guant's son(J O G is Richard adviser from youth) ) anyway Bolingbroke is also Duke of Lancaster, but this was because he was born in Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire, but he uses different names throughout the play, probably just me being slow, that I was confused, but just incase it's useful info to anyone else.

Also it seems very long, but little can be cut that doesn't drive the storyline, was just thinking same gap between matinee and Eve performance.

the old Vic says of the play =


Richard II, believing he's king by divine right, is confronted by rebellion. He becomes isolated, with a shrinking band of supporters, and detached from the country and its people. Shakespeare's play questions the meaning of 'monarchy' if a divinely appointed sovereign can be pushed aside, and a man with no such claim replaces him in power.

( he is the last Kings grandson the same as Richard ?)

Kevin Spacey makes his Shakespearean debut in the UK as the doomed king coming to terms with a life stripped of authority. This is also the first time that Trevor Nunn has directed this celebrated play, and follows his Olivier Award-winning re-investigation of Hamlet at The Old Vic last year.

I can't wiat to see it live