There is much to admire ...

July 30, 2005 performance, reviewed by Frances Benn Hall

This summer Shakespeare and Company is giving us a chance to see the rarely produced King John. As early Shakespeare, the play lacks the tight-knit structure of the great King Henry plays, but is full of fascinating characters, the leading character (not King John but The Bastard) almost an early study of Hotspur, full of marvelous dialog; and, unusual in a Shakespeare play, King John contains a large number of fully-developed roles for women.

The Bastard, well-cast, and he is definitely so in this production, is the most dynamic and beloved character in the play. From the moment Peter Macon sweeps onto the stage, we are enchanted. Though the rest of the play, he is the character whom we most watch, whose values seem the most commendable. He delights in being the illegitimate son of Richard the Lion Hearted and in a small but winning scene with his mother (Diane Prusha) commends her infidelity. In the back and forth struggles between England and France for territory, he hotly defends his king, the weak and ineffective John.

The plot of this early history is convoluted as the action (and the victories) switch back and forth between the opposing sides. The time is around 1300 and the English throne is a seat of contention. John is the youngest living brother of the late king and his mother Queen Eleanor (regally and elegantly played by Annette Miller) urges him to defend his rights.

However, over in France, Constance, wife of a deceased older brother of John, contends the English throne rightfully belongs to her young son Arthur. Constance is the longest and most demanding of the female roles. Barbara Sims handles it beautifully and avoids going over the top in her most trying moment of uncontained grief.

In a small female role, but one pivotal to the plot, Ashley Bryant appears appealingly as Blanche of Spain, niece of King John, who can be married off to the French Dauphin and thus temporarily unite the two warring sides.

Brilliantly cast male roles include that of Mel Cobb as Cardinal Pandulph who appears as a papal interference in the already convoluted struggle, Jonathan Croy who as Earl of Pembroke attempts to defend King John, and especially Mark Saturno as the French Dauphin.

For pathos there is the abused child Arthur, touchingly played by Susannah Millonzo. The scenes between her and Kenajuan Bentley as Hubert, her designated killer are well handled although they slow the war plot considerably.

And then there is the titular hero, King John. The role is a strange one and not a leading one. John was evidently a weak king, swayed by his mother who must have helped him write the Magna Carta, the deed for which he is most known in history books but one that bears no mention in this play.

Allyn Burrows has taken on this bewildering role and plays it in an interesting if unconventional way.

Regretfully this reviewer did not find it as fine a characterization as Burrows has shown in past roles such as his brilliant recent Henry V and his delightfully zany Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing.

The staging is brilliant, with beautiful sets and the warring groups easy to follow since the English side is costumed in deep red and the French in blue. All the costumes are magnificent.

Director Tina Packer again shows her astute knowledge of how to move a large cast around the Founders’ stage with beauty and clarity and has added mute scenes of great beauty. As the Papacy gets mixed into the political struggle, an elegantly frocked Cardinal brings a stirring presence on stage.

There is much more to admire in this production; excellent music, pageantry, sword fights, etc. My only complaint would be that added pantomime, dance, and religious moments, accompanied by medieval music, so add to a play that this one, which is shorter than any of the King Henry plays, and far shorter than Richard, manages to take around three and a half hours to perform.

Despite Shakespeare and Company’s credo of never cutting a line, my feeling is that in the case of King John some lines could have been cut, making for a tighter production and still keeping the marvelous pageantry.

However, that is a small complaint, but perhaps audiences should be warned that the second act is as long as the first. And since both contain their beauties, the play is well worth seeing.

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