The Base

We create and explore dramatic work.

[The Base @thebasecreates]

“The imminent decay” of England.

Project 39 continues with King John - Act Four, Scene Three.

One of Shakespeare’s least popular plays, King John explores his turbulent reign from 1199 - 1216, especially the disputed succession and tragic fate of John’s young nephew Prince Arthur.

Here Philip Faulconbridge (The Bastard, illegitimate son of Richard the Lionheart) has discovered the tragic death of Prince Arthur and reflects on the decline of the country. The decline of England is a consistent theme in Shakespeare. But this ‘decline-discourse’ has a specific quality. More often than not, Shakespeare’s characters suggest that England, in her prowess, cannot be conquered, but is always in danger of wounding herself.

The critic Harold Bloom thought that the character of The Bastard “redeems” the play. He speaks “his own highly individual language, combines heroism with comic intensity, and possesses a psychic interior.”

The Bastard is played by Mark Strepan

[Shakespeare Solved @ShakespeareSolv]

Great performance from Shakespeare’s King John play

This play is far more important than we have been told

And it is one of the funniest plays, lots of potential for Monty Pythonesque humor

[The Base @thebasecreates]

@ShakespeareSolv Thank you sir!

[The Base @thebasecreates]

“The imminent decay” of England.

Project 39 continues with King John - Act Four, Scene Three.

One of Shakespeare’s least popular plays, King John explores his turbulent reign from 1199 - 1216, especially the disputed succession and tragic fate of John’s young nephew Prince Arthur.

Here Philip Faulconbridge (The Bastard, illegitimate son of Richard the Lionheart) has discovered the tragic death of Prince Arthur and reflects on the decline of the country. The decline of England is a consistent theme in Shakespeare. But this ‘decline-discourse’ has a specific quality. More often than not, Shakespeare’s characters suggest that England, in her prowess, cannot be conquered, but is always in danger of wounding herself.

The critic Harold Bloom thought that the character of The Bastard “redeems” the play. He speaks “his own highly individual language, combines heroism with comic intensity, and possesses a psychic interior.”

The Bastard is played by Mark Strepan

[The Base @thebasecreates]

@armondboudreaux Thanks Armond.

[The Base @thebasecreates]

@Art_Deano Thanks Sam.

[The Base @thebasecreates]

@SafirBlueHawk Thanks Bianca!

[The Base @thebasecreates]

@SebMilbank Yes indeed. Thanks Sebastian.

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

Very topical

[The Base @thebasecreates]

https://t.co/QuK5a7cPUj

[The Base @thebasecreates]

Director of Photography - Mike Simpson
Directed by Oliver Bennett and Morgan Watkins
Produced by Oliver Bennett, Carolina Toczycka and Morgan Watkins
Editor - James Hedley
Social Media Strategy - Bonnie Poynder

[The Base @thebasecreates]

https://t.co/6Y7Z7XrU6o

[The Base @thebasecreates]

The elite initiated populism.

Project 39 continues with Henry VI, Part II - Act Four, Scene Seven.

Jack Cade is a fascinating minor character in Shakespeare. Is he a communist, an anarchist, a nationalist? Hero or dangerous charlatan?

He is played as a pawn in a much larger power game. York wants to challenge Henry VI for the throne. But he doesn’t know how this will go down with the public. So he gets Jack Cade to start a rebellion, a populist uprising, to gauge possible public support for his own claim to the throne.

It’s a tangled web. Shakespeare must have had an acute political awareness from a very young age to be able to show these layers of power. Cade himself is a proto-Communist. He wants to abolish all private property. He is also a kind of anarchist, as he wants to “kill all the lawyers” (as his henchman says). Cade is adept at whipping up hatred against the elites. But the fact that we know Cade has been put up to this by the elites themselves, suggests that Cade is not to be viewed as a hero, but as a cynical and destructive character.

Jack Cade is played by Sam Frenchum

[The Base @thebasecreates]

Director of Photography - Mike Simpson
Directed by Oliver Bennett and Morgan Watkins
Produced by Oliver Bennett, Carolina Toczycka and Morgan Watkins
Editor - James Hedley
Social Media Strategy - Bonnie Poynder

[The Base @thebasecreates]

@MrRoryLove @susanjcarey Fantastic 🏆

[The Base @thebasecreates]

‘Rather than cope with the unbearable loneliness of their condition, men will continue to seek their shattered God, and for His sake they will love the very serpents that dwell among His ruins.’

Friedrich Nietzsche

[The Base @thebasecreates]

@BretVDB Congrats 👏🏻👏🏻

[The Base @thebasecreates]

@wizard_waterloo Thanks Wizard of Waterloo…

[The Base @thebasecreates]

Help us get to 3000 followers.

Help us build this unique production company that will celebrate, cultivate and champion Western excellence.

https://t.co/X1DUKdiCsc

[The Base @thebasecreates]

The Machiavellian leader?

Project 39 continues with Henry V - Act Three, Scene One.

Henry V is often referred to as a Machiavellian figure. This is because the previous plays Henry IV, parts 1 and 2 show a scheming and calculating intelligence; pretending to be wasting his youth, but secretly preparing to be an excellent king. But Machiavelli’s main argument, that it is better for a leader to be feared than loved, doesn’t seem to apply to Henry. In his many rousing speeches, one feels a desire to be loved by his troops rather than feared.

Dr Samuel Johnson believed that the second line of this famous speech was missing. He thought a step of logic had been missed in between ‘once more unto the breach’ and ‘or close the wall up with our English dead.’ The editor of the Arden series, T. W. Craik agrees. He thinks it doesn’t make sense for Henry to rally the troops to attack the wall or die trying. T. W. Craik suggests the missing line could have been something like:

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
And either enter in, and win the town,
Or close the wall up with our English dead.

There is no textual evidence to support this. It is mere speculation. And most readers and audiences have intuited the meaning of these lines without the need for anything extra.

Henry V is played by Morgan Watkins

[The Base @thebasecreates]

@CrocodileReads Thanks C.M.

[David Lescalleet IV @DavidLescalleet]

This account really is worth a follow. What they are doing is extraordinarily unique on this platform, and it’s a testament to X that an account like this can gain some traction.

[The Base @thebasecreates]

@DavidLescalleet Thank you sir!