For my final blog post, I chose the video "The Histories", performed by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. In this clip, the performers act out all of Shakespeare's history plays combined into a football game of a few minutes.
Not only is this clip comical, but it is a great representation of the major plot occurrences in the history plays. All of the overthrows of power are depicted, as well as the constant changes in familial rule that are the basis for Shakespeare's history plays. It supplements the family tree "A Shakespeare Genealogy" that is located in the beginning of The Norton Shakespeare. In just about two minutes, the fast speaking and "rattling-off" of names emphasizes the inconsistency and ever-changing nature of the throne. Of course, the characters we all now know so well--Richard II, King Henry IV, and King Lear--are all referenced.
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