SOURCE: “King John and the Drama of History,” in King John and Henry VIII: Critical Essays, edited by Frances A. Shirley, Garland Publishing, 1988, pp. 31-50.

In the following essay, originally published in 1978, Waith examines critical and popular reaction to King John through the centuries. Waith maintains that the current emphasis on the political and historical themes of the play obscure its power.

King John is a play which, in our time, there have been few to love and very few to see.¹ The notable revival of interest in Shakespeare's history plays has left it, along with Henry VIII, almost untouched on the Shakespearean bookshelf and rarely performed. A review in the London Times (11 March 1958) of a Marlowe Society production began: “There are plenty of good reasons why King John should be hazier in memory than almost any other of Shakespeare's histories.”

One reason may be that the approach...