King George II: A Shakespearean Drama

Shepherd Bliss, P.O. Box l040, Sebastopol, Ca. 95473

King George II: A Shakespearean Drama

By Shepherd Bliss

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They
have their exits and their entrances," Shakespeare observed centuries ago.

The Bard’s combination of fact, fiction, history and explorations of human nature
endure because of his insight into the great dramas of their day – and ours.
If Shakespeare were alive, he’d have no shortage of kings, dynasties, plots
and counter-plots upon which to draw.

Today, when the truth of events can be stranger than fiction, a Shakespearean perspective can help us to understand what’s happening in the world. Indeed, "Something is rotten in the state of..." America. So let's turn our attention to a stage that has been set before us, and reconsider events through the Bard’s eyes.

A thick, velvety curtain slowly parts. Various dim figures tug at the heavy
drape until it begins to reveal what has been hidden. Policemen "detain"
those tugging at the resistant curtain, especially the dark-skinned ones.
People from the audience keep replacing those hauled off to jail. Muffled
sounds from the jailhouse emerge.

Others in the audience remain asleep. Then, the scene changes. The Globe Theatre becomes a magnifying lens that reveals the entire globe; we begin to see
what is really happening in the world. The action on the stage and beyond
is barely visible and unbelievable. Welcome to a three ring circus.

People have gathered in the square, terrified by prophecies of doom. Trumpets
blare. King George II enters. In the background the King's castle has begun
to crumble, as the whole world watches. The King dismounts from a high
horse. He stumbles. His powerful court tries to steady him.

(Cliff-note: In a surreal Shakespearean play last season two of that Italian
Leonardo Da Vinci's big-bird contraptions flew into a double-towered castle
and another into a pentagon-shaped fort and exploded. That was as weird and
odd as this play.)

Back at the square, peasants discuss rumors. News of a shadow court spreads
throughout the kingdom. King George II was never considered very powerful
or brilliant. Other lords are more powerful than this figurehead. But King
George II has the family name and the lineage. King George II tries to read
a royal proclamation, but stumbles. The powerful vice-king prompts him. Now
weakened, perhaps the King will be sacrificed?

The audience grows wilder with anticipation, breaking into arguments, waving
various colorful flags. A group of Women in Purple face off against Women in
Red, White, and Blue. "The King will fall," a stupid white man shouts from
beneath his baseball cap. A small umpire tries to silence the large man,
but a librarian monk comes to help. Other librarians rally to the monk's
side; the umpire backs off in the face of such solid support. Guards chase
off the capped man, and a court jester distracts the crowd. A Danish prince mumbles stage left, "To be or not to be? Will there be a nuclear war and will humanity survive? That is the question."

George II is terrified by the prophecy of his fall, but his courtiers
surround him with flattery. King Tony II of England comes over on a large,
white horse to support the American King.

In Act I's final scene King George II adjusts his robes. His supporters are
shocked by what they see; some begin to abandon him in disgust. Where he
once appeared to be entirely covered in gold, stains and spills now appear.
One looks like the flag of a once-mighty kingdom, Enron. The stains grow,
and connect to each other.

"He knew all along," a disgruntled subject grumbles. "I don't think so,"
responds another. "If he didn't know, he certainly took advantage of the
Fall of the Towers, making war to divert attention from the failing economy
and thus defend his throne," argues another.

"What are these crazy people talking about," a man in the audience shouts.
"Why wasn't this in the daily newspapers and on television?" shouts another.
King George II is left alone on stage, which is gradually flooded with
light. The King shudders.

A ghostly figure watches from the side, shrouded in white. "It's King
Richard," a member of the audience whispers, noticing the shaded jowls of
the once-powerful, deposed king. He seems to be smiling.

Act II is a series of flashbacks to the King's family that reveal their
legacy of kingly tyranny: grandfather; father and Prince Jeb. In Scene I,
the grandfather counts money he made from banking and shipping with the
ancient Nazis. In Scene II, King George I plots the downfalls of various
rulers. He kills over 100,000 in a distant Persian Empire, fails to remove
their leader, but continues to kill their children.

Scene III finds Prince Jeb caught in a Florida swamp with thousands of
uncounted ballots and dead bodies, who voted anyway. In Scene IV, King
George II and a Prince Bin Laden of Arabia, friends from boyhood and
long-term allies, meet to plan their next steps. They laugh and are clearly
comfortable with each other.

In Act III, the common people get impatient. Rotten tomatoes and eggs are
thrown at anyone who even looks like an American. "The 21st century's
swastika," someone yells as a man raises an American flag. Booths to sell
rotten fruit and vegetables are set up on stage and in the theatre by
enterprising Americans and Ferengis.

The King and his court have brought so much suffering to the world that
people want change. Global unrest against globalism breaks out on
the ancient stage of the Globe Theatre. Some of the King's former allies
from around the world abandon him.

But King George II still has substantial power and many tricks. Acting like
a wounded beast, he tries to rally his subjects to fight vague "enemies." At
times it seems as if he has consolidated his power and will continue his
ruthless rule. He draws fire on his own people, as a pretext to further militarize his kingdom. Weapons traders are pleased.

King George II's military is acknowledged to have superiority, but the King
is losing all moral authority. People say they see through his deceptions and subterfuges. Still, the King’s men are cunning. They instigate various scenes to attempt to distract viewers from the center stage. A tail wags a dog. Many films about the glory of war start up. In one, a land full of deserts and caves appears, and strange long-bearded people with robes bow to the ground. The whirling dervish Rumi recites poetry.

In the midst of all these diversions, loud sounds interrupt the prayers
and poems. Blood appears and flows over part of the stage. Little yellow
containers drop from the sky and litter the stage. Such a mess. People
look at the new landscape and say, "I'm hungry. Please pass the peanut butter
and jelly." The audience’s popcorn turns stale.

This was supposed to be a Shakespearean play. Now it feels like a
combination of Artaud's Theatre of the Absurd, Grotowski's Theatre of
Cruelty, an ancient Greek tragedy, the Living Theatre and a Brechtian
Gulliver's Travels. What will happen next?

Will the King go mad, like Lear? He appears on stage once more and begins
to stutter and slur his words even more. "What are we lurching toward?" asks
a peasant.

Finally, an heroic figure emerges -- a calm soothsayer. She is dark. This
character resembles some familiar historical figures -- sounds like Martin
Luther King, Jr., perhaps a relative of Gandhi, looks like Sojourner Truth.
"Let the King expose himself," the Dark Lady advises. "Resist the despot.
But be patient, O my beloved ones," she implores.

Another Act begins with a vision of the future. People increase their
pressure on the King. Demonstrations erupt around the world. The King's
once-victorious military begins to lose, having been lured into too many
battles in distant locations all over the world. Traditional enemies unite
against King Geroge II. Explosions rock the Empire. King George II loyalists
begin to fade as they gaze upon their naked leader. Gradually, the King
falls to his knees. He collapses in disgrace.

But wait. Maybe this is not the final act. Instead of this ending, perhaps
those who seek peace and justice are rounded up in a stadium, like after
another September 11, in Chile. The King who stole the throne to restore
his family dynasty over that of the competing Gore Dynasty continues his
intrigue and plotting. The people continue to organize, but many are
killed. Who will prevail? The ending has not yet been written.

(Shepherd Bliss owns the organic Kokopelli Farm in Northern California. He has contributed to sixteen books, most recently to "Shattered Illusions: Analyzing the War on Terrorism," to be published in July by Amal Press in England, and can be reached at sb3 [at] pon.net.)