SOURCE: Barrow, Craig. Review of King John. Upstart Crow 22 (2002): 96-9.

In the following review of Howard Jensen's production of King John at the 2001 Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Barrow praises the set design, costuming, and excellent individual performances, as well as its concentration on the tragic potential of John.

On entering the Octagon to see King John, one is confronted by a series of arches forming a rampart set at an acute angle to the stage; each arch seems slightly larger than the next. One wishes imaginatively to make these arches harmonically the same size, but one is frustrated by the creation of this visible symbol of the play by its Scenic Designer, Emily Beck. This skewed design, probably a collaboration with Director Howard Jensen, serves as a representative of the twisted behavior one so often sees in this Shakespearean play. While critics such as James L. Calderwood in “Commodity...