Playwright: William Shakespeare
At: Chicago Shakespeare Th., Navy Pier
Phone: (312) 595-5600; $48-$62
Runs through: June 6
King John is an odd duck. Detached in chronology from Shakespeare's great Wars of the Roses history plays (they begin 160 years after King John ends), it's distant in quality as well, lacking poetry, comedy, romance and even action. There are no sword fights as the play's many battles all occur off stage, and the chief characters don't engage in combat. John himself distinctly lacks nobility. Neither warrior nor politician, he's a reactive and seemingly aimless ruler overtaken by events that others set in motion. Unlike Richard II, John lacks the redeeming qualities of a good husband and father. His wife isn't mentioned at all and his son appears only in the closing moments. The principal legacy of John's reign, the Magna Carta of 1215, isn't even mentioned; for Shakespeare wrote popular history, and Magna Carta was between the monarch and his nobles having nothing to do with the vox populi.
All that said, this rarely produced play proved fascinating when staged by Chicago Shakespeare Theatre in 1991, and again now. It's a grand game of strategy, a true chess match complete with kings, queens, bishops (well, a Cardinal), knights and rooks all maneuvering for position and advantage. This time, director Barbara Gaines gives it a modern-dress political facade complete with red, white and blue posters proclaiming 'King John for England.' The slippery slope of manipulating opinion, engineering regime change and creating coalitions of the willing is brought home by Greg Vinkler's smirking King John. Trimmed in a George Bush wig, he's arrogant without being confident and crafty without being clever, matched to Linda Kimbrough as his mother (Eleanor of Aquitaine) in Barbara Bush wig and spectacular formal red dress.
The sharp supporting ensemble makes Shakespeare sound effortless and totally modern. Timothy Edward Kane makes Faulconbridge a dashing action figure. James Fitzgerald's Dauphin, David Lively's French king, John Reeger's Cardinal and Jefferson Slinkard as compassionate Hubert are rock-solid. Juvenile Zachary Gray is exceptionally winning as doomed Arthur. Among the women, Lisa Dodson as Arthur's harridan mother stands out with Kimbrough.
With little to slow it down, and neatly edited so that shifting alliances are easy to follow, the play roars vigorously ahead centered on a handful of royals and nobles who say very little, yet underscore the play's essential—and contemporary—message that the state isn't always bound to its leader. As always at Chicago Shakespeare, production values are the finest, from Melissa Veal's wigs and make-up, to Alexander Dodge's minimalist scenery and Robert Wierzel's smoke-filled lighting, to pyrotechnics by Gregory Meeh, to the martial music composed by Alaric Jans. Mariann Verheyen's well-done costumes echo dress uniforms of British Naval and French Army officers, seasoned with a soupcon of camouflage and Austro-Prussian pomposity.