Burgess begins by reiterating the significance of the context, text and performance of Richard II to the Essex faction in the court of Elizabeth.
Burgess describes 1596 as the period when Shakespeare blossomed into a gentleman while other men in the country were suffering. He outlines the hardships suffered by Elizabethan England and in Shakespeare’s own life in 1596. As part of this discussion, Burgess considers King John which he dismisses as a ‘bad play’ [Part 1: 34:00]; the death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet; Shakespeare’s hoarding of grain during the famine for financial gain; Shakespeare’s acquisition of a coat of arms; and the failed Capture of Cádiz led by Essex. Burgess states that this year finds Shakespeare in a place of maturity when he buys New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Burgess quotes from Shakespeare throughout, including Part 1: 13:49 Richard II, Act 3, Scene 2 (“No matter where; of comfort no man speak…”); Part 1: 40:47 King John, Act 5, Scene 7 (“’Tis strange that death should sing…”); Part 1: 42:11 King John, Act 3, Scene 4 (“Grief fills the room up of my absent child…”); and Part 2: 14:49 Sonnet 107 (“Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul…”).
Audience questions are asked throughout but largely inaudible [Part 1: 21:40, Part 1: 30:50, Part 2: 00:00].