Photo Flash: First Look at Folger Shakespeare's KING JOHN

Secret deals. Threats of mass destruction. Shifting loyalties. Folger Theatre follows its sold-out run of Macbeth with King John, Shakespeare's rarely performed history play chronicling King John's turbulent reign from 1199 to 1216. Directed by six-time Helen HayesAward-winner Aaron Posner, the production features Kate Eastwood Norris (Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew) as Philip Faulconbridge (the Bastard) and Holly Twyford (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Arcadia) as Arthur's tragic mother, Constance. Brian Dykstra, last seen on the Folger stage in Romeo and Juliet, will play the inscrutable King John.

King John is on stage from October 23 through December 2, 2018. Tickets are available online at www.folger.edu/theatre or by calling the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077.

King Richard "the Lionheart" is dead. His younger brother John gains the throne to become King of England, an inheritance that is instantly questioned by the King of France and Constance, who both declare that Arthur, John's nephew, is the true heir to the throne. Against this backdrop of suspicious legitimacy, John maneuvers among a sea of ambitious pretenders, religious politics, familial corruption, and deceptions that threaten the kingdom and his reign. Taking his audience back to the time of the Magna Carta, Shakespeare slyly commented on the politics of his own day in a toxic brew of ambition and indecision in this rarely staged but timely history play.

Photo Credit: Teresa Wood