A KING BECOMES A GUY

Richard II is dangerously away of touch along with his kingdom. He wastes money, raises taxes to aid his lavish way of living, takes on favorites, and cares more about his vanity than the common good. When Henry Bolingbroke-father into the future Henry V-challenges Richard for the throne, it’s a fight the ruler can’t win. But in losing his crown he gains far greater things: his mankind and his spirit.

Shakespeare’s luminous, poetic masterpiece is the first of four plays that chronicle the House of Lancaster’s rise and the beginning of the Wars of the Roses.