My first brush with this play was during my time at drama school where I was tasked with performing of speech by Philip the Bastard. The Bard has many bastards on his books but Philip is one of the rare ones - a bastard but more hero than villain - guess it helps if you father was Coeur de Lion!
The following year we performed scenes from Shakespeare and King John returned but this time I played the Dolphin! However, having an aquatic mammal as a contender for the throne was the least of our problems. The holy legate of the Pope was nearly six foot tall and kept bashing his head upon entering the scene as well as wearing a very silly hat; our latest ‘Bastard’ was an incredibly funny guy who no matter how straight he delivered the repeated line “And hang a calve's-skin on those recreant limbs” never failed to raise a smile; and our Constance threw herself so much into the loss of her Arthur that her performance not only produced a bucket-full of tears but a side order of snot!
Needless to say it took a lot of restraint to get through the performance!
Final thoughts - Arthur! Why did you jump? Why mate? Why?
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