The programme note for the second half of the Northern Broadside company's double bill ends with a proposition to which I fully subscribe. Shakespeare never wrote a minor play; the top of his scale is sublime and at the bottom there is mere excellence. King John is in the latter category and this production offers proof of its merits.
The eponymous royal was the brother of Richard the Lionheart, after whose death he wrested the throne from his nephew. This led to hostility from European states - notably the French, supported by Germany and the Pope - which flared into war. The plot covers the military manoeuvres and political intrigues ending in John's death.
There are many twists in the tale as devious John turns this way and that, here a proud king who will not be dictated to by foreigners, there a craven incompetent looking for a way out. His vacillating character is a fascinating study but the dominant figure is that of his mercurial supporter Philip the Bastard, a macho figure who mingles his loyalties with cynicism at the follies of kings and the presumptions of the church.
A large cast fills the stage with an array of clearly-etched characters, offering a cynical view of the royal-noble classes whose pursuit of their own interests never flinches from sending many thousands of their subjects to bloody death. The acting, led by Fine Time Fontayne's John and Conrad Nelson's Bastard, is convincing throughout.
Directors Barry Rutter and Conrad Nelson drive the action along to a martial beat, psychologically and literally, to the appropriately downbeat ending. History moves on.
The tour moves to An Grianan, Letterkenny, from June 5th-9th (074-20777); Hawk's Well, Sligo, June 11th-13th (071-61518); Dunamaise, Portlaoise, June 14th-16th (0502-63355) and Everyman Palace, Cork, June 18th-23rd (021-4501673).