Welcome to KING JOHN
Endland's most despised King ascended to the throne in 1199. The story of a family at war with France and each other.
Words, Weapons, Castles, and Characters
Battle Ax and Ball and Chain
The weapons of the thirteenth century were mostly handheld: cudgels and morning stars, swords and daggers.
The Text
King John was not the first History that Shakespeare wrote, but it chronicles the earliest historical English King.
Castles
John's Father King Henry II built more castles than any other king. Dover Castle was build in 12 years. Castles were the primary mode of national defense.
THE WORDS
Accouterment - Dress, military dress and equipment.
Bastardy- - Illegitimacy, children who are born out of wedlock.
Bedlam - Madness, a lunatic asylum, pandemonium, from the Bethlehem Royal Hospital in London.
Begot - Past tense of beget, to procreate, produce or cause to get, specifically to father, to give birth to.
Bequeath - To leave by will or inheritance.
Bulwark - A sea-defense wall, a railing round the deck of a ship.
Churlish - Rough or rude, a churl is a countryman.
Coeur de Lion - French for Heart of a Lion, the nickname for John's Brother Richard.
Controlment - The act of having under command, regulation and restraint.
Country Manners - The behavior of more rustic communities, more laid-back, not courtly etiquette.
Dispossess - To put out of possession or deprive of property.
Eel - A catadromous fish with an elongated body.
Farthing - A fourth of a penny.
Forsake - To abandon or give up.
Embassy- The person sent abroad as an ambassador, along with their staff, and residence.
Half-face - Similar in meaning to half-caste, a brother by one parent only.
Heir - A person legally entitled to succeed to property or rank.
Indenture - A contract of apprenticeship.
Lief - Gladly or willingly.
Liege - Bound by feudal tenure. A vassal or feudal lord to whom allegience is owed.
Madcap - A wild or crazy person.
Paltry - Mean and worthless. To palter is to trifle with or deceive.
Parley - A meeting between leaders of opposing forces, from the French for speak, parler.
Practice to Deceive - To lie or give false impressions.
Presage - Indication of what is going to happen, an omen.
Scorn - Extreme disdain or contempt.
Unreverent - Irreverent, disrespectful.
Usurpingly - The Usurper is one who violently or unlawfully takes power. John first Usurped the throne of England while his brother Richard was fighting in the Crusades to take back Israel from Saladin, leader of the Muslim forces.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Webster's New Encyclopedia of Dictionaries. Compiled by John Gage Allee, Ph.D. Ottenheimer Publishers, Inc. USA. 1953-1993.
DRAMATURG
Dana Weidman, available day and night via text (845) 802-8869 and email - weidman@sunydutchess.edu.
to answer any and all questions about the play, the King, and the History!!
MFA in Screenwriting 2001
The American Film Institute
BA in English 1985
Grinnell College
King John
at the McKenna Theatre in New Paltz, NY Summer 2025!!