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So its not nothing that coronavirus has canceled it.
What sort of substitute could maintain not just the artistic impulse but also that sense of a civic gift?
you could listen, as I did, on consecutive nights, or binge them all at once.
But … dont binge.
Bolingbrokes male pronouns havent been changed, though, which can be disorienting on the radio.
(I also found it helpful toread along.)
Can we trust him at his word?
Ive always seen Bolingbroke played as untrustworthy, even to himself.
Is the character fully in control of his speech?
Andre Hollands Richard also feels new.
Holland, with only his voice to draw Richards portrait, is not weedy.
Even when hes making bad decisions, his tone rings with confidence.
Why mustthisRichard give up kingship?
The series and the play both have a zooming-in effect.
Hyman even talks about Bolingbrokes battle cry Mine innocence and Saint George!
as being a secret invocation of the man on all their minds, George Floyd.
The performers also speak about the shocks and pleasures of being in a nearly entirely Black and brown company.
But its also appropriate for 2020 becauseRichard IIis a play about a person discovering his true worth in isolation.
In another timeline, this productionwould be up and running now at the Delacorte.
Instead, were quarantined, huddled around our individual computers, listening alone.
I wasted time then, and now time wastes me, cries Richard.
I push pause on the podcast and think about what I need to do between now and November.
