(no subject)
...Well, at least the ridiculous Derek Jacobi anti-Stratfordian stuff in the Richard II episode of Shakespeare Uncovered was pretty short. And at least they followed up with Jonathan Bate basically going, "...Sir Derek, what is your deal?"
I do wonder how much of the play came across to people who didn't already know the play, though. I feel like most of the other plays in this series are reasonably familiar; even if you haven't read it, you probably have a basic idea of what happens in Hamlet or Macbeth, and have probably heard references to Henry V's famous speeches (although I did once have a student who asked in the middle of a discussion, "I mean, is this speech actually that famous? Like, do people just randomly make references to a 'band of brothers' or something?"). Richard II does have the big famous speech by John of Gaunt, but I suspect that a lot of people don't know that it comes from this play.
I do wonder how much of the play came across to people who didn't already know the play, though. I feel like most of the other plays in this series are reasonably familiar; even if you haven't read it, you probably have a basic idea of what happens in Hamlet or Macbeth, and have probably heard references to Henry V's famous speeches (although I did once have a student who asked in the middle of a discussion, "I mean, is this speech actually that famous? Like, do people just randomly make references to a 'band of brothers' or something?"). Richard II does have the big famous speech by John of Gaunt, but I suspect that a lot of people don't know that it comes from this play.