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Shakespeare plays RICHARD II on stage

A view of the stage, with a sign telling us that we are on the Welsh coastline; there is a bush at the back. Shakespeare kneels centre-stage, performing as Richard dressed in medieval armour. He gazes dispiritedly around him while stage-left other members of the cast, also in armour, look on anxiously

RICHARD For Heaven's sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:
How some have been depos'd, some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed,
Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping kill'd,
All murdered. For within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court, and there the demon sits,
Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp.

Richard II, Act 3 Scene 2

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