Ambiguities Resolved in Derek Jacobi's Richard IIThe raw text of a script does not live and breathe the way a visual performance should. The director and actors must make choices in a production, interpreting and clarifying the plot and purpose of the play. Derek Jacobi's Richard II uses the capabilities of film to remove many of the ambiguities that weigh on the interpretation of this text. In doing so, it creates a passionate but ineffective King Richard who, between his own insecurity and Northumberland's complicity, throws the crown to the strong-willed but worried Bullingbrook. Richard's character becomes evident through the costume, acting and storyline choices. Throughout the play, Richard wears some of the lightest colors on stage: his white dress at court in Ii, his sky blue clothes at the lists in I.iii, and even a pure white dress in contrast to the off-white of the "caterpillars" carry in the bathroom in I.iv. Even in IV.i's deposition sequence, the brown dress that Richard is dressed in is still light, almost pastel. This wardrobe choice has two effects. The light colors draw visual attention to Richard, just as he continually tries to attract auditory attention with his high-minded speeches. Yet the constant parade of pastels and toned-down shades also makes Richard seem weak, especially next to the more soberly dressed court or the much more somber Bullingbrook and Northumberland. Richard's clothing style reinforces the impression: in the white robe that he seems to usually wear for court occasions, the enormous sleeves neutralize his hands (obviously designed at the time as an emblem of leisure, but here also serving as a 'image of helplessness) and the high collar forces his neck up, reinforcing an appearance of arrogance and distance. ...... middle of paper ......n shoulder and handing him the summary of accusations, expressively rolling his eyes at the dethroned king's constant refusals, his smug separation from Richard and of his queen.The Derek Jacobi production of Richard II provides its own answers to many of the ambiguities posed by the text alone. Richard is portrayed as an ineffective ruler ready to be overthrown, and Bullingbrook as a more capable man propelled to power by the intrigues of the Machiavellian Northumberland. Many other interpretations are valid - indeed, some of the choices in this production were aided by judicious cuts in the script - but this production provides an entertaining, reasonable and coherent interpretation of the multitude of events surrounding the deposition of a king. . And, in doing so, the production proves the almost limitless variety of theater, especially Shakespeare..