King Richard the Second (1978)

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Derek Jacobi plays the title role, a man whose tragedy is being forced to negate his considerable ego. And he is all ego, which is what makes him such an ineffectual king, though perhaps not an ineffectual poet. We can't really applaud his self-pitying monologues, except as nihilistic poetry, a declension of the self that Jacobi is more than able to render sympathetically, while keeping the character's mercurial edge. Between him and Gielgud's de Gaunt, there's some dazzling acting on display, and though this is the first part of a foursome also containing the two Henry IVs and Henry V (which the BBC filmed in sequence with the same actors as they had Henry VI's three parts and Richard III), Shakespeare (and the production) juggles all those historical characters more ably than he had in his early career. I could sometimes get lost in the first Henryad, but not here. It all feels very clear. 8 years 10 months ago