The project
Seize the Crown is a digital participation project accompanying Richard the Second. The project goal is to enable participants to create their own, self-filmed spoken word response to John of Gaunt’s famous speech “This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle…” from the play.
Seize the Crown is open to anyone, whether you are a spoken word veteran or new to the artform. Read on to find out how to take part.
Our Discovery Pack also contains loads of ideas to help you devise your response.
THE INSPIRATION
The gateway line and inspiration for this project, seize the crown, comes from the moment in the play when Richard deposes himself and forces the ruling power on his cousin, Henry. Richard is aware his time as King is at an end – public forces have gone against him. In this dramatic scene, Richard speaks to Henry very directly. He says:
“Give me the crown.
Here, cousin, seize the crown. Here, cousin,
On this side my hand, and on that side thine.
Now is this golden crown like a deep well
That owes two buckets filling one another,
The emptier ever dancing in the air,
The other down, unseen, and full of water.
That bucket down and full of tears am I,
Drinking my griefs whilst you mount up on high.”
THE SPEECH
Richard’s 18 years of rule have seen England fall from a prosperous and powerful country to a place of chaos and ruin. Earlier in the play, Richard’s uncle, John of Gaunt, describes his impression of England under Richard’s leadership.
He first describes how precious and special he remembers England to be in past times. He goes on to describe how the country has deteriorated and fallen into disarray.
John of Gaunt says:
“This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth;
This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leased out. I die pronouncing it,
Like to a tenement or pelting farm:
England, bound in with the triumphant sea
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds:
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.”
John of Gaunt, Act 2, Scene 1 * Adapted by Anna Coombs for Tangle’s Richard the Second, 2022
Mark ‘Mr T’ Thompson SEIZES THE CROWN
Tangle has commissioned Mark ‘Mr T’ Thompson to ‘seize the crown’ .
Mark is an award-winning poet, performer and educator of Anglo-Jamaican heritage.
He has delivered performances and workshops across the UK and internationally. Having trained as an actor at Rose Bruford, his poetry has been featured widely, from the Cultural Olympiad in 2012 to the National Maritime Museum.
Mark has worked with charities the ACLT and Crisis and has had several poems broadcast on BBC Radio 4. He self-published ‘Mixed Messages’ in 2009, and has a full collection slated for release in October 2022 with Burning Eye.
WATCH HERE
NOW UNLEASH YOUR CREATIVITY
The project invites individuals, community groups, youth theatres and schools to ‘seize the crown’ by creating their own self-filmed spoken word piece.
We have chosen the speech above as our ‘provocation material’ or topic. We’re asking all participants to use it as a starting point for creating their spoken word piece.
You can pick any part of the speech, or impressions from it, as your inspiration. The only requirement is that your response must include the words ‘seize the crown’.
Participants can submit their own responses via social media by tagging @tangletheatre and using the hashtag #seizethecrown to be shared on the company’s website and social media.
Click on the button below for some tips by Our Version Media founder, Veronica Gordon, on how to make your own your Seize the Crown video using your mobile phone.
Created in collaboration with
Tangle would like to thank Veronica Gordon and Siontai Gordon of Our Version Media CIC, a black-led community media enterprise based in Southampton, Hampshire, for their support creating the filming guidance for this project.
Founded by a former TV news journalist Veronica Gordon, they (OVM) are on a mission to equip black and under-represented communities with digital media skills to tell their own, authentic stories.
@ourversionmedia