Shakespeare’s Richard II, soon to face his own doom, laments:
“For God’s sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:
How some have been depos’d, some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed,
Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping kill’d,
All murthered …” Act III, Sc. 2, 55 – 600
Both Elizabethan playwrights Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare crafted their tales of “the death of kings” from Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1587 ed.). Shakespeare concluded his three-play series of “Henry VI” in 1591; Marlowe wrote of the death of “Edward II” in 1594. Both kings were “murthered” as the result of circumstances unique to the demise of all other British and English kings. This course will study, compare, and contrast both playwrights, both plays, and both deaths.
Instructor Joseph Coté has led explorations in four Shakespeare courses and 11 individual, monthly master classes over the past two years with the Coastal Senior College; the latter series is titled “Journeys with Will Shakespeare.” With a focus on classic plays and on Shakespeare in particular, Joseph has performed 14 featured roles in the plays of the Bard. While living in London for seven years, Joseph’s actor training mentor was the late, highly esteemed John Broome of the Royal Shakespeare Company. With a focus on the text, his classes are highly interactive with little scholarly lecture. Detailed study guides and suggested scenes for reading aloud (optional) are shared well in advance of each play studied. Joseph’s course will focus on the place in history of the two playwrights and on character analysis and the unique circumstances of the two “murthered” kings, their journeys through the play to their deaths. (The Folger or Arden texts of the plays are preferred but not necessary.)
Class Limit: 18