Ambiguities Answered in Derek Jacobis Richard II Essay -- Richard II

Ambiguities Answered in Derek Jacobis Richard II The plain text of a script does not give-up the ghost and breathe as a visual performance must. Both handler and actors have to make choices in a intersection, to interpret and make authorize the plot and purpose of the play. The Derek Jacobi Richard II uses the capabilities of film to remove many of the ambiguities that offense interpretation of that text. In doing so, it creates a passionate yet ineffective male monarch Richard who, between his own insecurity and Northumberlands conniving, hurls the crown to the willing if uneasy Bullingbrook. Richards part becomes evident through costume, acting, and script choices. Throughout the play, Richard wears almost of the clear upest colors on stage -- his white fit out at court in I.i, his cerulean garments at the lists in I.iii, even a pure white robe as op represent to the off-white the caterpillars wear in the bathroom in I.iv. Even in the deposition sequence of IV.i, the br own robe Richard is dress in is still light, almost pastel. This wardrobe choice has two effects. The light colors draw visual attention to Richard, just as he continually tries to draw aural attention with his eminent-flown speeches. Yet the invariant parade of pastels and watered-down shades also makes Richard look weak, particularly next to the more than soberly-dressed court or the much darker-clad Bullingbrook and Northumberland. Richards costume style reinforces the impression in the white robe he seems to typically use for court occasions, the massive sleeves incapacitate his hands (obviously intended in the period as an symbol of leisure, but here also serving as an image of powerlessness) and the high collar forces his neck up, strengthening an appearance of arrogance and aloofness. ... ...n the shoulder and jabbing the summary of charges at him, expressively rolling his eyes at the dethroned kings eonian refusals, to his smug parting of Richard and his queen. The Derek Jacobi production of Richard II provides its own answers to many of the ambiguities posed by the text alone. Richard is portrayed as an ineffective ruler respectable for overthrow, and Bullingbrook as a more capable man boosted to power by the scheming of the Machiavellian Northumberland. Many other interpretations are valid -- indeed, some of this productions choices were made easier by judicious cuts in the script -- but this production provides an entertaining, reasonable, and self-consistent interpretation of the welter of events surrounding the deposition of a king. And, in so doing, the production proves the almost limitless variety of theater, particularly of Shakespeare.