Cultural depictions of Richard II of England

Fanciful depiction of the death of Richard II.

Richard II of England has been depicted in popular culture a number of times.

Literature[]

Richard is the central character in Richard II, a play by William Shakespeare dating from around 1595.
Richard is also the main antagonist in an anonymous, incomplete play, often known as Thomas of Woodstock (play) or Richard II, Part 1, whose composition is dated between 1591 and 1595.
He is the protagonist of the play Richard of Bordeaux by Gordon Daviot.
Richard appears in the novel The New June by Henry Newbolt, along with Henry IV and William Langland.^[1]
He is a character in the novel The Named by Marianne Curley.
He is one of the main characters in The Crucible Trilogy by Sara Douglass.
He is one of the main characters in The Gentle Falcon by Hilda Lewis.
He is an important character in Das Lächeln der Fortuna by the German historical novel writer Rebecca Gablé.
Richard is a main character in Within The Hollow Crown by Margaret Campbell Barnes.^[2]
Richard appears with his wife Anne of Bohemia and their friend Robert de Vere in Anthony Minghella's play Two Planks and a Passion.

Television[]

Richard has been portrayed a number of times on television, mainly in versions of Shakespeare's play. In this context he has been played by:

Alan Wheatley in a BBC version, The Tragedy of King Richard II (1950)
Maurice Evans in an American version, Richard II (1954)
David William in the BBC series An Age of Kings (1960), which contained all the history plays from Richard II to Richard III
Ric Hutton in an Australian TV version of Richard II (1960)
Hannes Messemer in a West German version, König Richard II (1968)
Ian McKellen in another BBC version, The Tragedy of King Richard II (1970)
in a Hungarian version, II. Richárd (1976)
Derek Jacobi in the BBC Shakespeare version, King Richard the Second (1978)
Michael Pennington in the BBC series The Wars of the Roses (1989), which included all of Shakespeare's history plays performed by the English Shakespeare Company
in a Russian version, Richard Vtoroi (1992)
Fiona Shaw in a British TV film, Richard II (1997)
Michael Maertens in another German version, Richard II (2001)
Mark Rylance in another BBC film, Richard II (2003), broadcast live from the Globe Theatre in London
Ben Whishaw in Richard II (2012) as part of the BBC's The Hollow Crown, a series of four of Shakespeare's history plays which also includes Henry IV part 1, Henry IV part 2 and Henry V.

Richard has also been played on television by:

in a BBC adaptation of Richard of Bordeaux (1938)
Peter Cushing in another BBC adaptation of Richard of Bordeaux (1955)
Roger Allam in a BBC film, Henry IV (1995), a version of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1

Video[]

Richard was played by in a straight-to-video film adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard the Second (2001).
David Birney played him in an American video Richard II (1982), which was intended to simulate an Elizabethan stage production of the play.

References[]

^ McGarry, Daniel D., White, Sarah Harriman, Historical Fiction Guide: Annotated Chronological, Geographical, and Topical List of Five Thousand Selected Historical Novels. Scarecrow Press, New York, 1963 (p.79).
^ McGarry, Daniel D., White, Sarah Harriman, Historical Fiction Guide: Annotated Chronological, Geographical, and Topical List of Five Thousand Selected Historical Novels. Scarecrow Press, New York, 1963 (p.75).

[1] McGarry, Daniel D., White, Sarah Harriman, Historical Fiction Guide: Annotated Chronological, Geographical, and Topical List of Five Thousand Selected Historical Novels. Scarecrow Press, New York, 1963 (p.79).

[2] McGarry, Daniel D., White, Sarah Harriman, Historical Fiction Guide: Annotated Chronological, Geographical, and Topical List of Five Thousand Selected Historical Novels. Scarecrow Press, New York, 1963 (p.75).

[1]

[2]

v t Cultural depictions of English and British monarchs
Kingdom of the English 886–1066	Alfred the Great Æthelflæd ¹ ¹ ¹ Eadwig the Fair¹ ¹ Æthelred the Unready Sweyn Forkbeard Edmund Ironside Cnut¹ Harold Harefoot Harthacnut Edward the Confessor Harold Godwinson Edgar the Ætheling
Kingdom of England 1066–1649	William I William II Henry I Stephen Matilda Henry II² Henry the Young King Richard I John² Henry III² Edward I² Edward II² Edward III² Richard II² Henry IV² Henry V² Henry VI² Edward IV² Edward V² Richard III² Henry VII² Henry VIII² Edward VI² Jane² Mary I² with Philip² Elizabeth I ² James I³ Charles I³
Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland 1653–1659	Oliver Cromwell⁴ Richard Cromwell⁴
Kingdom of England 1660–1707	Charles II³ James II³ William III and Mary II³ Anne³
Kingdom of Scotland 843–1707 (traditional)	Kenneth II Constantine III (IV) Kenneth III Malcolm II Duncan I Macbeth Lulach Malcolm III Canmore Donald III Duncan II Donald III Edgar Alexander I David I Malcolm IV William I the Lion Alexander II Alexander III Margaret John Robert I David II Robert II Robert III James I James II James III James IV James V Mary I James VI ⁵ Charles I⁵ Charles II⁵ James VII⁵ Mary II⁵ William III⁵ Anne⁵
British monarchs after the Acts of Union 1707	Anne George I George II George III George IV William IV Victoria Edward VII George V Edward VIII George VI Elizabeth II
¹Overlord of Britain. ²Also ruler of Ireland. ³Also ruler of Scotland and Ireland. ⁴Lord Protector. ⁵Also ruler of England and Ireland. Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics.