King John: The Arkangel Shakespeare

De: William Shakespeare

Narrado por: Michael Feast, Michael Maloney, Eileen Atkins

King John of England is pitted against the united powers of France, Brittany, Austria, and the Papacy. Will England be destroyed by his fatal indecision?

As alliances are made, broken, and remade, the paranoid and erratic John reveals his weakness and reliance on those around him - including his powerful mother, Queen Elinor, and Faulconbridge, the cynical and witty bastard son of the dead King Richard I.

In this early history play, King John is played by Michael Feast, the Bastard by Michael Maloney, and Constance by Eileen Atkins.

Public Domain (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Good, but Not the best Balanced

I have started listening to the Shakespeare plays I no longer recall and this was one of them. It was better than I expected, but is not the most balanced of Shakespeare. The comedy is not as funny or biting as the best of his plays. Nevertheless there are some great scenes (as Hubert and Arthur).

I am very glad to have listened to this and may even listen again as I have never seen this performed.

The production is quite good, except the comic relief is weak.

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale

“Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.”
― William Shakespeare, King John, Act III.4

All I want is the bastard. I want Stoppard to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead King John. The Universe revolves, uncorked around the Bastard not the King. I'm not sure who I want to play the Bastard, but he needs to be Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, and Edmund Kean all unwrapped, warped, and twisted into one. He needs to be unhinged, demonic, and perfect: a ballet dancer -- spitting bullets and drenched in virtue's fire. The Bastard Philip demands it. Every play Shakespeare writes gives me a character I want to carry in my pocket. The Bastard proves I own no pockets large enough for Shakespeare's coin. Enough. I need to cool down. Think rationally. Gather my wits. The play itself was soft. 3-stars, small planets, at most, but I round my review up, as I round my day, week, and May up because I discovered the Bastard Philip today (and Lady Constance wasn't too shabby either).

How can you not love THIS,
a soliloquy on self-interest?

Mad world! mad kings! mad composition!
John, to stop Arthur's title in the whole,
Hath willingly departed with a part,
And France, whose armour conscience buckled on,
Whom zeal and charity brought to the field
As God's own soldier, rounded in the ear
With that same purpose-changer, that sly devil,
That broker, that still breaks the pate of faith,
That daily break-vow, he that wins of all,
Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids,
Who, having no external thing to lose
But the word 'maid,' cheats the poor maid of that,
That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling Commodity,
Commodity, the bias of the world,
The world, who of itself is peised well,
Made to run even upon even ground,
Till this advantage, this vile-drawing bias,
This sway of motion, this Commodity,
Makes it take head from all indifferency,
From all direction, purpose, course, intent:
And this same bias, this Commodity,
This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word,
Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France,
Hath drawn him from his own determined aid,
From a resolved and honourable war,
To a most base and vile-concluded peace.
And why rail I on this Commodity?
But for because he hath not woo'd me yet:
Not that I have the power to clutch my hand,
When his fair angels would salute my palm;
But for my hand, as unattempted yet,
Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich.
Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail
And say there is no sin but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be
To say there is no vice but beggary.
Since kings break faith upon commodity,
Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee.

That Bastard

The performance of the Bastard was laughably over the top. But literally everyone else crushed it. It helps to have a copy of the play in front of you to read along. Without faces for reference it can take a moment to recognize who is speaking making it easy to miss key information, especially in the beginning when the voices aren't as recognizable. Acting aside, the story itself is sublime and written by the Best, almost at his best.

Great performance

This was a very well done version of King John. I recommend this to any Shakespeare fan out there.

Shakespeare's "adminstrative" play

Kind of boring, and I am generally a fan of Shakespeare's history plays. It just seemed like a bunch of situations to be administered, brokered, and reneged on with little foresight or overall strategy for England's future.