King John (2019)

Plot synopsis

After the death of King Richard I, his youngest brother John takes the throne, but the French support John’s nephew Arthur’s claim to the throne. John and his mother Eleanor are asked to settle an inheritance dispute between brothers Robert and Philip Faulconbridge. Philip is recognized as the bastard son of the late King Richard and is knighted as Sir Richard Plantagenet.

The conflict over England’s throne intensifies. Austria declares support for young Arthur, joining the French and Arthur’s mother Constance. War is averted by a marriage between John’s niece Blanche and the French dauphin Lewis, though Constance is enraged by the French betrayal. Cardinal Pandulph, an emissary from the Pope, demands that John recognize the Pope’s choice for Archbishop of Canterbury. John refuses and is excommunicated. Under pressure from Rome, King Philip of France abandons the new peace with England. Pandulph persuades Lewis that he can claim the English throne through his wife Blanche. John sends the captured Arthur back to England and orders Hubert to kill the young prince. English Earls Pembroke and Salisbury plead with John for Arthur’s freedom, and John agrees just as Hubert announces Arthur’s death. The French army arrives; Eleanor and Constance have both died in France; and rumours and fear abound throughout England. Arthur, having been secretly spared by Hubert, leaps to his death from a high prison wall.

John reconciles with Rome, but the French advance continues and English nobles defect to the enemy. Philip the Bastard shames English traitors as John falls ill, having been poisoned. A dying French lord warns Salisbury and Pembroke that Lewis will execute them once he secures victory over the English. They return to England, asking John’s forgiveness and bringing his son Prince Henry to his bedside. John pardons them on his deathbed, Pandulph negotiates peace with France and King Henry III is crowned upon John’s death.

—Heidi Schmidt, Dramaturg