King John. Yes. King John (Oh, Don't Get Like That!)

Unlike many of Shakespeare's kings, it's probably more likely that you've heard of the historical King John than the one in the play.

The historical King John was the younger brother of Richard the Lionheart. Richard left John in charge when he went off to the crusades. King John was the Prince John of the Robin Hood stories (in the Disney Robin Hood movie, he's a childish lion voiced by Peter Ustinov). He is also the king who was forced by the nobles to sign the Magna Carta, which we like to bring up here in the US because we like to think of it as the beginning of a line of constitutional governing documents running from the Mayflower Compact to the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution itself.

Shakespeare doesn't mention Robin Hood. Or the Magna Carta. There are four hundred years of history that hadn't happened yet, and perhaps it just wasn't considered important at the time. Isaac Asimov suggests this is because the strong monarch of Shakespeare's time, Queen Elizabeth, was not a fan of the Magna Carta, and would rather people are didn't think about it. He's got a point. A strong executive rarely likes a strong legislature, and Shakespeare was very careful to keep on the right side the people in power.

There's not much competition for the best film version of King John. I can only find one, although there are a few options on YouTube that I will link to below.

King John is usually considered one of Shakespeare's lesser planes and it's easy to see why. The story sort of lurch is from this happened to this happened with a lot of growth. King John starts is a bad king who is manipulated by his mother to a bad king who doesn't have anyone to pull the strings. It's not much of a journey.

I have to say, though, this play has some very good scenes and some very good speeches. It has battle scenes, betrayals, at least one great male character, and at least one good female character. In a skilled production, with a good cast, a good director, and an adequate budget, it doesn't have to be one of the lesser plays. It could do with some cuts, I think, but then there are parts of Hamlet that most productions ought to cut. Maybe King John will never be one of the great plays, but it doesn't have to be one of the lesser plays. It's better than you think.

A number of actors have used the good parts of King John for monologues, it seems. Especially Constance's speeches, which have quite a bit of fire to them. You can see Constance being played perhaps by the same actor who played Juliet. There must've been a player in Shakespeare's company who could pull off an intelligent and tragic female character.

It's really Philip the Bastard's soliloquies that shine for me. As portrayed by George Costigan at least, he's clever and funny. Whoever was cast as Mercutio would do well in this role too.Philip stands in for the audience as he sees the war with France turned into a temporary alliance, then a peace treaty, and then to war anyway. He eventually figures out that all of the powerful man are really motivated not by honor or the common good, but rather by self-interest, or “tickling commodity” as he calls it. Even the kings have a price, and even in the Middle Ages money talked. Some things never change.

The only full version I could find on DVD is the Leonard Rossiter version produced by the BBC in 1984. As far as I can tell there is no other full version is available. This one is okay. It's clearly not a very high budget production – the sets look cheap (at best), the costumes look recycled – but the performances are really really good. Leonard Rossiter stars as King John, usually with a glass of wine in his hand which fits. King John is always in over his head. The idea that he's a drunk works very well for the character. You'll recognize Rossiter if you've ever seen the 1970s British sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. He was a very funny actor, and perfectly suited to King John. Unfortunately he died suddenly the same year this came out.

The Bastard is played by George Costigan. You won't recognize him, but he played Max Capricorn in the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas special. He's been in many many things over the years but you probably won't recognize him.

Eleanor of Aquitaine is played by Mary Morris, who was in the Doctor Who episode “Kinda,” but seems like she should have been in the Sisterhood of Karn.

Constance is played by the great Claire Bloom, who you will recognize from her roles as Hera in Clash of the Titans and as The Woman in the Doctor Who two-parter “The End of Time.” According to imdb.com, we're going to be seeing a lot more of her in Shakespeare, as she's going to turn up in Hamlet, Henry VIII, and Cymbeline, and possibly others.

King John. Dir. David Giles. Perf. Leonard Rossiter, Mary Morris, and George Costigan. 1984. DVD. Ambrose, 2001. (imdb.com)

I found this version at my local public library, but you can find snippets online, for example at 

As I mentioned, actors love the firey speeches from this play, and a few of these studies and audition pieces show up on YouTube. Here are a few of the better scenes I found:

Act IV, Scene I, Hubert & Arthur

Lady Constance Mourns for Arthur

Earliest Existing Shakespeare Scene on Film - the Death of King John

Here's the thing about being one of the “lesser plays:” It's just a popularity contest. If a play isn't popular now, that doesn't mean it was never thought of as one of the great (or at least good) plays. In the 1900s, for example, King John was much more popular than it is now. The earliest existing appearance of Shakespeare on film is this short part of King John. It makes me think – what will people be saying about Pericles in 100 years?