Editing Richard II (play) (section)

==Performance history==
On 9 December 1595, Sir [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury|Robert Cecil]] enjoyed "K. Richard" at Sir Edward Hoby's house in Canon Row, and it might have been Shakespeare's ''Richard II'', although some suspected that it was a different play, a painting, or a historical document.<ref>{{cite book |contributor-first=Charles |contributor-last=Forker |contribution=Introduction |first=William |last=Shakespeare |title=Richard II |series=Arden Shakspeare Third Series |editor-first=Charles R. |editor-last=Forker |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2009 |pages=114–115}}</ref>

Another commissioned performance of a different type occurred at the [[Globe Theatre]] on 7 February 1601. This was the performance paid for by supporters of the [[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex|Earl of Essex's]] planned revolt (see {{section link|#Historical context}} above).<ref>{{cite book |contributor-first=Charles |contributor-last=Forker |contribution=Introduction |first=William |last=Shakespeare |title=Richard II |series=Arden Shakspeare Third Series |editor-first=Charles R. |editor-last=Forker |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2009 |page=10}}</ref>

It is said that on 30 September 1607, the crew of Capt. William Keeling performed ''Richard II'' aboard the [[British East India Company]] ship ''The Red Dragon'', off [[Sierra Leone]], but the authenticity of this record is doubted.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kliman|first=Bernice W.|date=2011|title=At Sea about Hamlet at Sea: A Detective Story|journal=Shakespeare Quarterly|volume=62|issue=2|pages=180–204|issn=0037-3222|jstor=23025627|doi=10.1353/shq.2011.0025|s2cid=192187966}}</ref>

The play was performed at the Globe on 12 June 1631.<ref>Charles Forker, "Introduction", William Shakespeare, ''Richard II'', Arden Shakspeare Third Series, ed. by Charles R. Forker (Bloomsbury, 2009), 1–169, p. 121.</ref>

The play retained its political charge in the [[English Restoration|Restoration]]: a 1680 adaptation at [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane]] by [[Nahum Tate]] was suppressed for its perceived political implications. Tate attempted to mask his version, called ''The Sicilian Usurper'', with a foreign setting; he attempted to blunt his criticism of the Stuart court by highlighting Richard's noble qualities and downplaying his weaknesses. Neither expedient prevented the play from being "silenc'd on the third day", as Tate wrote in his preface. [[Lewis Theobald]] staged a successful and less troubled adaptation in 1719 at [[Lincoln's Inn Fields]]; Shakespeare's original version was revived at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] in 1738.<ref>F. E. Halliday, ''A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964,'' Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; pp. 262, 412–413.</ref>

The play had limited popularity in the early twentieth century, but [[John Gielgud]] exploded onto the world's theatrical consciousness through his performance as Richard at the [[Old Vic Theatre]] in 1929, returning to the character in 1937 and 1953 in what ultimately was considered as the definitive performance of the role.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shakespeare |first1=William |editor1-last=Dawson |editor1-first=Anthony B. |editor2-last=Yachnin |editor2-first=Paul |title=Richard II |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-818642-7 |pages=87–89|quotation=Geilgud made the part his own}}</ref> Another legendary Richard was [[Maurice Evans (actor)|Maurice Evans]], who first played the role at the Old Vic in 1934 and then created a sensation in his 1937 Broadway performance, revived it in New York in 1940 and then immortalised it on television for the [[Hallmark Hall of Fame]] in 1954. In England, [[Paul Scofield]], who played the role at the Old Vic in 1952, was considered the definitive Richard of more modern times.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/paul-scofield-oscarwinning-actor-whose-phenomenal-range-was-unmatched-in-his-generation-798984.html | location=London | work=The Independent | date=21 March 2008 | title=Paul Scofield: Oscar-winning actor whose phenomenal range was unmatched in his generation | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925115254/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/paul-scofield-oscarwinning-actor-whose-phenomenal-range-was-unmatched-in-his-generation-798984.html | archive-date=25 September 2015}}</ref> In the 1968–1970 seasons of the [[Prospect Theatre Company]], [[Ian McKellen]] made a breakthrough performance as Richard, opposite [[Timothy West]] as Bolingbroke. The production, directed by [[Richard Cottrell]], toured Britain and Europe, featuring in the [[Edinburgh Festival]] in 1969 and on [[BBC TV]] in 1970.<ref>{{cite web| title =Prospect Theatre Company| publisher =Ian McKellen Stage| url =http://www.mckellen.com/stage/r2/prospect.htm| access-date =26 April 2016| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140810064427/http://www.mckellen.com/stage/r2/prospect.htm| archive-date =10 August 2014| url-status =live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jul/08/toby-robertson | newspaper=[[The Guardian]] | access-date=2013-09-16 | date=26 April 2016 | title=Toby Robertson obituary | first=Michael | last=Coveney | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203154856/http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jul/08/toby-robertson | archive-date=3 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Richard II archive of Ian McKellen|url=http://www.mckellan.com/stage/r2/|access-date=26 April 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602220720/http://www.mckellan.com/stage/r2/|archive-date=2 June 2016}}</ref> In 1974, [[Ian Richardson]] and [[Richard Pasco]] alternated the roles of Richard and Bolingbroke in a production from [[John Barton (director)|John Barton]] at the [[Royal Shakespeare Theatre]]; nearly fifty years later this was still a standard by which performances were being judged.<ref>{{cite news|title=Timothy O'Brien|last=Coveney|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Coveney|date=28 October 2022|work=The Guardian|location=London|quote=still unmatched|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/oct/25/timothy-obrien-obituary|page=R6}}</ref> One of the most accessible versions was the 1978 television production by the [[BBC]] of the play, shown as part of "The Shakespeare Plays" (a several years-long project to put all of Shakespeare's plays on videotape). This version, still available on DVD, starred [[Derek Jacobi]] as Richard, with John Gielgud making an appearance as John of Gaunt. In 1997, [[Fiona Shaw]] played the role as a man.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120016/|title=Richard II|date=1 January 2000|via=IMDb|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307024318/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120016/|archive-date=7 March 2011}}</ref>{{ugc|certain=y|reason=[[WP:RS/P]]: generally unreliable|date=March 2025}} More recently, the play was staged by [[Trevor Nunn]] in modern costume at the Old Vic in 2005, with [[Kevin Spacey]] in the title role, and by [[Michael Grandage]] at the [[Donmar Warehouse]] in 2011–12 with [[Eddie Redmayne]] in the title role.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Additionally the role was played by [[Mark Rylance]] at the Globe Theatre in 2003. An often overlooked production, the lead actor handles the character in, as ''The Guardian'' noted, perhaps the most vulnerable way ever seen.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2013/jan/24/richard-ii-actors-david-tennant|title=Shakespeare's Richard II: which actor wears the crown best?|first=Lyn|last=Gardner|date=24 January 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202101613/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2013/jan/24/richard-ii-actors-david-tennant|archive-date=2 February 2017}}</ref> The play returned to [[Shakespeare's Globe|the rebuilt Globe]] in 2015 with [[Charles Edwards (English actor)|Charles Edwards]] in the title role.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on/globe-theatre/richard-ii-2015|title=Richard II |publisher=Shakespeare's Globe|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907190602/http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on/globe-theatre/richard-ii-2015|archive-date=7 September 2015}}</ref>

In summer 2012, [[BBC Two]] broadcast a [[Richard II (2012 film)|filmed adaptation]] together with other plays in the Henriad under the series title ''[[The Hollow Crown (TV series)|The Hollow Crown]]'' with [[Ben Whishaw]] as Richard II.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/27/the-hollow-crown-richard-ii-pi.html|title=The Hollow Crown: Richard II|publisher=BBC Media Centre|access-date=2012-06-15|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618041215/http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/27/the-hollow-crown-richard-ii-pi.html|archive-date=18 June 2012}}</ref>

No film version for cinema release has ever been made; however, the 1949 film ''[[Train of Events]]'' includes a sub-plot featuring an amateur dramatics society performing the last scenes of ''Richard II''.

The [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] produced the play with [[David Tennant]] in the lead role in 2013.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21159286|title=David Tennant to play Richard II in RSC's winter season|work=BBC News|date=23 January 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124112005/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21159286|archive-date=24 January 2013}}</ref> It has been released as a [[Cineplex Odeon]] special worldwide movie event.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cineplex.com/Events/Shakespeare |title=Summer of Shakespeare |access-date=2014-07-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722184218/http://www.cineplex.com/Events/Shakespeare |archive-date=22 July 2014}}</ref> Tennant reprised the role for his U.S. stage debut, at [[Brooklyn Academy of Music|BAM]], in April 2016.

The [[Almeida Theatre]], Islington, London, produced the play with [[Simon Russell Beale]] in the lead role in 2019.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cavendish |first1=Dominic |title=The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, Almeida, review: a Simon Russell Beale masterclass, but an irksome production |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/tragedy-king-richard-second-review-almeida-simon-russell-beale/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/tragedy-king-richard-second-review-almeida-simon-russell-beale/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=6 January 2019 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=19 December 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>