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YORK, appears in both lists because he switches affiliation (from RICHARD to BOLLINGBROOKE) at the end of 2.3.

Though RICHARD II is one of the five plays studied in James Calderwood’s seminal work SHAKESPEAREAN METADRAMA (1971), the metatheatre is implicit rather than explicit. There is no overt occurrence such as a masque, play-within-the-play or disguised character. But the abdication scene (4.1), which had likely been censored and cut from the play's early performances (and does not appear in its first three printings, Q1-3), was almost certainly conceived by Shakespeare as a somewhat "staged" event. Perhaps another category of metatheatrical play should then be considered: a form of "court performance" whereby certain rituals of state are (re) enacted.

Though RICHARD II is one of the five plays studied in James Calderwood’s seminal work SHAKESPEAREAN METADRAMA (1971), the metatheatre is implicit rather than explicit. There is no overt occurrence such as a masque, play-within-the-play or disguised character.

RICHARD II had already been published five times before its inclusion in the 1623 First Folio. It was published in 1597 (Q1), 1598 (Q2 & Q3), 1608 (Q4), and 1615 (Q5). The copy for Q1 was probably a transcript of Shakespeare’s foul papers. With the exception of Q4 (which introduces 4.1.154-318 / TLN 2074-2243) each successive quarto was a reprint of its predecessor. F was apparently set from a copy of Q3 that had been annotated from a promptbook (or perhaps F compositors had access to the promptbook). Most contemporary editions therefore use Q1 & F as control-texts.

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!THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND (ca. 1595)

RICHARD II had already been published five times before its inclusion in the 1623 First Folio. These occurred in 1597 (Q1), 1598 (Q2 & Q3), 1608 (Q4), and 1615 (Q5). The copy for Q1 was probably a transcript of Shakespeare’s foul papers. With the exception of Q4 (which introduces 4.1.154-318 / TLN 2074-2243) each successive quarto was a reprint of its predecessor. F was apparently set from a copy of Q3 that had been annotated from a promptbook (or perhaps F compositors had access to the promptbook). Most contemporary editions therefore use Q1 & F as a control-texts.

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!!X AXIS (abscisses): 2849 lines

ACT-SCENE divisions are according to F, there are none in Q1-5.

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1.1: line 1 (reads "Act 1 scene 1 begins at line 1")

1.2: line 216

1.3: line 292

1.4: line 574

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2.1: line 640

2.2: line 951

2.3: line 1103

2.4: line 1283

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3.1: line 1309

3.2: line 1358

3.3: line 1581

3.4: line 1806

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4.1: line 1920

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5.1: line 2259

5.2: line 2365

5.3: line 2495

5.4: line 2666

5.5: line 2791

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!!Y AXIS (ordonnées):

Entrances & exits of Characters

According to their order of appearance.

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• (3,215) reads "enters at line 3, exits at line 215".

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• (2667 [rip 2784], 2790)

reads "enters at line 2667, dies at line 2784, corpse exits at line 2790”.
RIP at the end of a character’s list indicates that the character has died or been killed (in some cases, offstage).

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KING RICHARD II:

(3,215) (300,537) (575,639) (710,871) (1361,1580) (1647,1805) (2083,2258) (2267,2364) (2667 [rip 2784], 2790) RIP

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GAUNT:

(3,205) (217,291) (300,573) (641,782) RIP

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BOLLINGBROOKE (later KING HENRY IV):

(24,215) (322,573) (1104,1282) (1310,1357) (1582,1805) (1921,2258) (2496,2651) (2792,2849)

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DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER

(217,291) RIP

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AUMERLE:

(293,537) (575,639) (710,871) (1361,1580) (1647,1805) (1921,2258)
(2408,2494) (2519,2651)

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BAGOT:
(300,537) (575,639) (710,871) (952,1102) (1923,2258)

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GREEN:

(300,537) (575,639) (710,871) (993,1102) (1310,1357) RIP

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BUSHY

(300,537) (627,639) (710,871) (952,1102) (1310,1357) RIP

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YORK:

(641,862) (1027,1102) (1191,1282) (1310,1357) (1582,1805) (2026,2078) (2083,2258) (2366,2487) (2531,2651) (2792,2849)

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QUEEN to King Richard:

(710,871) (952,1102) (1807,1919) (2260,2364)

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ROSS

(710,950) (1166,1282) (1310,1357)

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NORTHUMBERLAND:

(791,950) (1104,1282) (1310,1357) (1582,1805) (1921,2258) (2312,2364) (2798,2849)

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PERCY (HOTSPUR)

(1126,1282) (1310,1357) (1604,1805) (1922,2258) (2496,2651) (2814,2849)

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SALISBURY

(1284,1308) (1418,1580) (1647,1805)

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CARLISLE

(1361,1580) (1647,1805) (1922,2258) (2814,2849)

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DUCHESS OF YORK

(2366,2494) (2573,2651)

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EXTON

(2652,2665) (2775,2790) (2826,2849)

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!!PLOT & COLOURING

Characters may be separated into two groups.

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• Those that side with RICHARD:

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BAGOT

GREEN

BUSHY

AUMERLE

SALISBURY

CARLISLE

QUEEN

YORK (until line 1282)

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• Those that side with BOLLINGBROOKE:

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GAUNT

DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER

ROSS

NORTHUMBERLAND

PERCY

EXTON

DUCHESS OF YORK

YORK (from line 1310)

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YORK, appears in both lists because he switches affiliation (from RICHARD to BOLLINGBROOKE) at the end of 2.3.

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!!METATHEATRE

Though RICHARD II is one of the five plays studied in James Calderwood’s seminal work SHAKESPEAREAN METADRAMA (1971), the metatheatre is implicit rather than explicit. There is no overt occurrence such as a masque, play-within-the-play or disguised character.

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