The Wars of the Roses: Knock Knock Joke Edition

My apologies for today's late and meager installment. I have been extremely distracted by the impending holidays and all the various errands and tasks that revolve outward from the 25th of December like tentacles on an octopus.

Also, my apologies to anyone who tried to access the site yesterday and were unable to. Apparently Squarespace (my hosting service) is suffering from a series of denial-of-service attacks. Hopefully that will be cleared up soon.

Anyways, here is a very quick summary of the Wars of the Roses, for those of you who don't feel like reading all three parts of Henry VI. I covered the highlights.

A Comprehensive Guide to Shakespearean Cross-Dressers

Obviously, as all female roles were played by men in Elizabethan times, there were technically a lot more cross-dressers in Shakespeare, but these are the ones that cross-dressed in the context of a play. Viola and Rosalind are the really plum roles, but one of my personal favorites is Innogen from Cymbeline. She is really put through the metaphorical wringer. Special mention to Julia, who exclaims "O ME UNHAPPY!" and then faints dramatically, which, if you're going to faint, is the way to do it. 

Larry's Henry and Me

I must have been exposed to Shakespeare earlier than this - I have a vague recollection of a Midsummer Night's Dream production at the Stratford Festival involving a giant hibiscus - but Olivier's Henry V remains my earliest concrete Shakespearean memory. I loved it instantly. I remember feeling a bit disappointed when I later found out that Henry V was, in fact, comparatively well-known and performed rather a lot. I liked feeling that it was my secret. 

License to Kill

I have no idea why I decided to do this. It seems like a good idea at the time. Anyways, there's my stick figure rendition of Richard III, complete with hunchback. 

In other news, I saw an encore screening of the RSC's production of Richard II starring David Tennant last night, and it was phenomenal. They did the old "Aumerle turns out to be Richard's murderer" switcheroo, which always seems a bit forced to me, but otherwise it was spectacular. The production itself is re-opening today in London. I would say "go get tickets", but that's impossible, so instead I'll stay "wait for the DVD to be released", which, happily, is going to happen at some point.

Richard II: One Page Summary

Maybe you don't have time to read my epic 27-page stick figure rendering of Richard II. That's fine. I understand. However, you have absolutely no excuse not to read my one-page summary of Richard II. 

And that wraps up my Richard II coverage! Next week I will be returning to my usual Monday-Wednesday-Friday update schedule, as completing three pages a day nearly drove me up the metaphorical wall. To all those who started following this blog during Richard II, I must warn you that I will occasionally cover non-Shakespearean topics. If that makes you really agitated, I suggest you subscribe to my Shakespeare-Only RSS feed, which will conveniently filter out all non-Bardic material. 

Richard II, part 10

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Two weeks and 27 panels later, we have finally reached the end of Richard II! Let's wrap everything up now. If you don't remember what happened yesterday, I'll give you a hint: Richard died. 

And there we have it! But before we go, I'd like to do the obligatory death/marriage tally for Richard II. Generally it's agreed that if a lot of people die, it's a tragedy, and if a lot of people get married, it's a comedy. This doesn't really take the histories into account, where a lot of people die just because that's what tends to happen in history. But, just for the sake of numbers, let's take a look:

And there we have it, folks! Thanks to all of you who joined me for this romp. Stay tuned tomorrow, as I will be posting a one-page summary of the entire play for anyone who was too lazy to stumble through my rambling 27-page scene-by-scene epic narrative. 

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Richard II, part 9

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Hang on to your metaphorical hats! We're almost there. When we last left our beleaguered cast of characters, Henry of Bolingbroke had just established himself as king, and has sent the deposed Richard off to Pomfret Castle. But things haven't been all that easy for Henry...

Piers of Exton is a fictional creation of Shakespeare's. Shakespeare also seems to have ripped off the "knight overhearing frustrated king's hyperbolic exhortation to kill someone and then taking it literally" gag from Henry II's famous "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" remark, which resulted in the horrible and totally unintended* murder of Thomas Becket.

*may or may not have been intended

So, this is what happens when you try to turn a deeply introspective and philosophical soliloquy into a one-page stick-figure comic strip. I fear most of Richard's profound, self-actualizing discoveries were lost in the translation. On the plus side, he does now have sock puppets.

And that, tragically, is the end of Richard. It is not, however, quite the end of the play. Check back tomorrow for the final scene and the obligatory "Death and Marriages" tally. Richard II is very short on marriages.

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

Richard II, part 8

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

The story so far: Richard has just been deposed by his cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, and is being carted off to the Tower of London for safekeeping. 

Point #1: The historical queen does actually have a name: Isabella of Valois. The only problem is she would have been about 10 years old at the time of Richard's deposition. Richard's first wife, Anne of Bohemia, died five years earlier. Anne was, by all accounts, a moderating force on the more capricious Richard, with whom she had a warm relationship. Since neither Dead Anne nor Toddler Isabella fulfilled Shakespeare's need for a tragic queen figure, he invented Nameless Queen a.k.a. Technically Isabella But Older. 

Point #2: Northumberland shows up again in Henry IV  parts 1 and 2, and is totally shocked when Richard's prophecy here turns out to be accurate.

This is the first of two York Family scenes, both of which I find adorable and hilarious. 

This is one of those instances when a cartoon can't actually improve upon the adorableness and humor of the source material. 

Here we get our first mention of Bolingbroke's son, also named Henry, and his burgeoning reputation as a bit of a wastrel. You'll see a lot more of him when I get around to doing Henry IV parts 1 and 2, not to mention Henry V.

Tomorrow we'll stop by Pomfret Castle and see how Richard is faring in captivity (spoiler alert: not very well).  

Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10