[In the following review, Isherwood presents a favorable review of Tim Carroll's 2003 Globe Theatre staging of Richard II, particularly admiring the intimate rapport that Mark Rylance's Richard established with the audience.]

The gentleness that is a particularly appealing element of Mark Rylance's stage persona is put to fine use in his performance as Shakespeare's diffident Richard II at Shakespeare's Globe. Rylance's Richard is the affecting center of this all-male staging by Tim Carroll that clearly presents the king's failings as a ruler and diplomat—and human being—but also clarifies the ennobling effects of his downfall.

Rylance's Richard has the manner of a bored child in the play's early scenes, when he presides somewhat peevishly over the dispute between Bolingbroke (Liam Brennan) and Mowbray (Terry McGinity). He's a monarch who has never learned the proper manners of a ruler. While his subjects present their grievances, a distracted Richard bends to tenderly stroke the hide of a freshly killed deer. He gingerly holds a handkerchief in front of his nose in disgust when calling on the dying Gaunt (played with intelligent gravity by John McEnery), and later flies into a petulant rage when stung by his criticism.

Rylance's Richard is charming and sincere when he is appealing to the audience directly, giving public speeches, but this Richard foolishly thinks it is enough to play the decorous ruler in public while indulging his personal whims and playing favorites in private. He fails to see that the courtiers he abuses are the real conduit between a ruler and his people; it is only they who are in contact with the people and can steer their loyalties. The king, far above, can but look on helplessly as his subjects revolt.

When the tide turns against him, Richard is puzzled and chastened into gentleness. Appealingly, Rylance's Richard crucially retains his humor in his humiliation; he practically plays the court jester at times, making his points about the divine right of kings with a wit that commands attention now that he can no longer command respect. By the time the king's fate is sealed, his grace and sensitivity have moved us to aching sympathy.

Since Richard II is notable for the relative brevity—and paucity—of its female roles, the casting of men in them here brings neither embarrassments nor revelations. In any event the supporting cast, playing either gender, is strong. Carroll's acclaimed all-male Twelfth Night, starring Rylance as Olivia, tours the U.S. this fall, but has not skedded a New York berth. On the evidence of this assured and affecting production, that's a real pity.