Richard II

Richard II is yet another history about a bad king.  Not wildly scheming and hilariously evil like Richard III, nor quietly ineffectual like Henry VI, just quite unpopular, due to holding high taxes on the commons, while at the same time disrespecting the rights of the aristocracy.  He is deposed rather quietly, without much fuss, by the exiled duke of Hereford, who invades England while Richard is away in Ireland.  No one seems much bothered except for one of the older lords, who knows that Richard's a lousy king, but who can appreciate that England is in for some trouble if no one's going to respect the divine right of succession.

The play sounds pretty boring on the surface, but save for the deliciously morbid Richard III, this is my favorite history yet.  (Okay, the dry Henry VI series doesn't pose much of a threat, but still!)  Richard is such a pathetic figure that it's extremely hard to take him seriously.  But his monologues are so good!  They're so tragic and poignant, but at the same time the man is so schizophrenic that an element of strong, dark humor is hard to ignore.

Again, no theatrical film adaptation that I could find; here good old BBC comes to the rescue as usual.  Derek Jacobi overpowers the proceedings with an extremely self-indulgent performance.  I think his interpretation, though definitely on the goofy side, is actually pretty defensible.  Richard II has to be one of the most difficult parts in the Shakespearean repertoire.  Even if Clare and I were nearly in stitches in a couple of these scenes, I think the humor has to be at least partly intentional on the author's part.