Shakespeare's Richard II, the Play of 7 February 1601, and the Essex Rising

RICHARD II OCCUPIES A SPECIAL PLACE in Shakespeare scholarship because it represents the most conspicuous and famous example of a Shakespearean play transcending the confines of theatrical production to enter into real-life political drama during the playwright's own lifetime.1 Or, at least, it probably does. 7 In the absence of relevant evidence, it is impossible to know whether stage performances had included the Parliament sceane (although this seems likely), but the act of printing the play for the first time in 1597 turned what had previously been a series of individual performances into a single durable public text whose meaning was liable to be interpreted in relation to a variety of other printed texts.8 In this light, the censorship of the text of Richard II-if that censorship actually occurred-would testify to political sensitivities relating specifically to the nondramatic nature of a printed play.