STRATFORD FESTIVAL HD: KING JOHN (Barry Avrich). 175 minutes. Screens Thursday (April 9), 7 pm, and Sunday (April 12), 12:55 pm. For venues, see Movies. Rating: NNN
Stratford continues its high-def broadcasts of the complete plays of William Shakespeare this week with King John, a lesser-known work that was one of the hot tickets last season.
This production was directed by Tim Carroll, whose double bill of Richard III and Twelfth Night burned up the West End and Broadway a few seasons ago. (I adored the intimate and richly atmospheric Twelfth Night.)
King John isn’t as popular as either of those, and though the staging is clear and the performances generally fine, Carroll – and director Barry Avrich, who filmed it – can’t quite sell it as a good play. The title character isn’t particularly well defined. And although much of the drama consists of shady political manoeuvring and deals, it’s no Elizabethan version of House Of Cards.
Still, Tom McCamus brings a capricious, almost feline quality to John, while Graham Abbey (wish I’d seen him in the Henry plays at Stratford) is excellent as Philip, Richard I’s bastard son, who amiably interacts with the audience and even tosses one lucky patron a decapitated head.
Seana McKenna is predictably solid in a couple of scenes as Constance, the nervous mother of young Arthur (Noah Jalava), whose life becomes a major plot point and whose mysterious death – was it suicide? an accident? – inspires one of Carroll’s finest theatrical flourishes.
Ensemble singing and dancing add a sense of ceremony and occasion to an otherwise unremarkable play.
