Go Deeper: Reading, Viewing & More

Professor Rosa Joshi on Making Inclusive Spaces in Classical Theatre

Red Talks is a quarterly speaker series featuring intersectional voices on a range of topics under the umbrella of inclusive excellence at Seattle University. In this half-hour lecture, Rosa Joshi (director of King John, co-founder of upstart crow collective, and former professor at Seattle University) speaks about her journey with classical work, the creative process of upstart crow collective, and the diverse and inclusive future of Shakespeare in America.

An Interview with the Founders of upstart crow collective

King John’s production dramaturg Wiley Basho Gorn interviews the three co-founders of upstart crow collective—co-producers of this production—on what it's like to return to this story in our current political and cultural moment. Rosa Joshi, Kate Wisniewski, and Betsy Schwartz have been making theatre together for over two decades. In 2006 they formed the upstart crow collective, producing classical plays with diverse ensembles of women. Their first production...King John! Sixteen years later, times may change but the essential questions of the work remain the same. 

Wait . . . What Just Happened?

Like many of Shakespeare’s history plays, King John has a lot of characters, family members, and references to historic events. If you'd like to bone up in advance, or you just saw the play and wonder about a few of the plot points, have a look through the synopsis prepared by the show's dramaturg, Wiley Basho Gorn. Spoiler alert: To tell the story, the synopsis gives away a few surprises—so proceed with caution if you don't want to know what happens.

Character Circles - Relationships within King John

Ben and David Crystal are masters of text and possess a deep knowledge of Shakespeare’s canon. Explore their character circles for a visual representation of the overlapping relationships in King John. (Note: This chart is based on the play as printed in the First Folio. We have cut/combined some of the characters for this production.)

Getting to Know the Plantagenets

The Plantagenet dynasty ruled England for over three hundred years, from 1154 to 1485. They were a remarkable family, providing England with fourteen of its kings, of which John was the third. Take a moment to explore the royal lineage and learn a bit more about the historical events on which Shakespeare based King John.

House of Plantagenet Family Tree

From Henry II to Richard III, trace the royal line over the generations and see if you can spot the Shakespeare characters along the way. It’s one (very) big dysfunctional family!

Map of the Angevin Empire’s Lands in France

John inherited a massive kingdom beyond the shores of England. First established by his parents, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and expanded by his brother, Richard I (called Richard the Lionheart), the Angevin Empire stretched from the borders of Scotland to the slopes of the Pyrenees and was intertwined with the kingdom of France. Get a sense of the geography and see how close these two kingdoms were.

Our thanks to King John’s production dramaturg, Wiley Basho Gorn, for compiling this list of resources.